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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af84b5c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69473 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69473) diff --git a/old/69473-0.txt b/old/69473-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fdd7376..0000000 --- a/old/69473-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,17257 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The life of Cardinal Mezzofanti, by -Charles William Russell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The life of Cardinal Mezzofanti - With an introductory memoir of eminent linguists, ancient and - modern - -Author: Charles William Russell - -Release Date: December 4, 2022 [eBook #69473] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian - Libraries) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CARDINAL -MEZZOFANTI *** - - - - - - -THE LIFE OF CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI. - - - - -[Illustration: J. Card. Mezzofanti - - Perugini, del. H. Adlard, sc.] - - - - - THE LIFE - OF - CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI; - WITH - AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR - OF - EMINENT LINGUISTS, ANCIENT AND MODERN. - - BY - C. W. RUSSELL, D.D. - PRESIDENT OF ST. PATRICK’S COLLEGE, MAYNOOTH. - - LONDON: - LONGMAN, BROWN, AND CO. - PATERNOSTER-ROW. - 1858. - - [_The Right of Translation is reserved._] - - - - -PREFACE. - - -The following Memoir had its origin in an article on Cardinal Mezzofanti, -contributed to the Edinburgh Review in the year 1855. The subject -appeared at that time to excite considerable interest. The article was -translated into French, and, in an abridged form, into Italian; and I -received through the editor, from persons entirely unknown to me, more -than one suggestion that I should complete the biography, accompanied by -offers of additional information for the purpose. - -Nevertheless, the notices of the Cardinal on which that article was -founded, and which at that time comprised all the existing materials -for a biography, appeared to me, with all their interest, to want the -precision and the completeness which are essential to a just estimate of -his attainments. I felt that to judge satisfactorily his acquaintance -with a range of languages so vast as that which fame ascribed to -him, neither sweeping statements founded on popular reports, however -confident, nor general assertions from individuals, however distinguished -and trustworthy, could safely be regarded as sufficient. The proof of his -familiarity with any particular language, in order to be satisfactory, -ought to be specific, and ought to rest on the testimony either of -a native, or at least of one whose skill in the language was beyond -suspicion. - -At the same time the interest with which the subject seemed to be -generally regarded, led me to hope that, by collecting, while they -were yet recent, the reminiscences of persons of various countries and -tongues, who had known and spoken with the Cardinal, it might be possible -to lay the foundation of a much more exact judgment regarding him than -had hitherto been attainable. - -A short inquiry satisfied me that, although scattered over every part -of the globe, there were still to be found living representatives of -most of the languages ascribed to the Cardinal, who would be able, from -their own personal knowledge, to declare whether, and in what degree, he -was acquainted with each; and I resolved to try whether it might not be -possible to collect their opinions. - -The experiment has involved an extensive and tedious correspondence; -many of the persons whom I have had to consult being ex-pupils of the -Propaganda, residing in very distant countries; more than one beyond the -range of regular postal communication, and only accessible by a chance -message transmitted through a consul, or through the friendly offices of -a brother missionary. - -For the spirit in which my inquiries have been met, I am deeply grateful. -I have recorded in the course of the narrative the names of many to -whom I am indebted for valuable assistance and information. Other -valued friends whom I have not named, will kindly accept this general -acknowledgment. - -There is one, however, to whom I owe a most special and grateful -expression of thanks—his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. -From him, at the very outset of my task, I received a mass of anecdotes, -recollections, and suggestions, which, besides their great intrinsic -interest, most materially assisted me in my further inquiries; and -the grace of the contribution was enhanced by the fact, that it was -generously withdrawn from that delightful store of Personal Recollections -which his Eminence has since given to the public; and in which his -brilliant pen would have made it one of the most attractive episodes. - -Several of the autographs, also, which appear in the sheet of -fac-similes, I owe to his Eminence. Others I have received from friends -who are named in the Memoir. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PREFACE, pp. v-vii. - - INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR. - - ANCIENT PERIOD:— - - History of Linguists little known—Legendary Linguists—The - Jews—The Asiatics—The Greeks—Mithridates—Cleopatra—The - Romans—Prevalence of Greek under the Empire—The Early - Christians—Decline of the Study—Separation of the two - Empires—The Crusaders—Frederic II—The Moorish Schools - in Spain—Council of Vienne—Roderigo Ximenes—Venetian - travellers—Fall of Constantinople—Greeks in - Italy—Complutensian Polyglot, pp. 5-18. - - MODERN PERIOD:— - - I. _Linguists of the East._ Dragomans—Genus Bey—Jonadab - Alhanar—Interpreters in the Levant—Ciceroni at Mecca—Syrian - Linguists—The Assemani—Greeks—Armenians—The Mechitarists, pp. 18-24. - - II. _Italian Linguists._ Pico della Mirandola—Teseo - Ambrosio—Pigafetta—Linguistic Missionary - Colleges—The Propaganda—Schools of the Religious Orders— - Giggei—Galani—Ubicini—Maracci—Podestà—Piromalli—Giorgi—De - Magistris—Finetti—Valperga de Galuso—The De Rossis, pp. 25-34. - - III. _Spanish and Portuguese Linguists._ Fernando di - Cordova—Covilham—Libertas Cominetus—Arias Montanus—Del - Rio—Lope de Vega—Missionaries—Antonio Fernandez—Carabantes— - Pedro Paez—Hervas-y-Pandura, pp. 34-41. - - IV. _French Linguists._ - Postel—Polyglot-Pater-Nosters—Scaliger—Le - Cluse—Peiresc—Chasteuil—Duret—Bochart—Picquet—Le Jay—De la - Croze—Renaudot—Fourmont—Deshauterayes—De Guignes—Diplomatic - affairs in the Levant—De Paradis, Langlés—Abel Remusat—Modern - School, Julien, Bournouf, Renan, Fresnel, the d’Abbadies, pp. 41-58. - - V. _German, Dutch, Flemish, and Hungarian Linguists._ - Müller—(Regiomontanus)—Bibliander—Gesner—Christmann—Drusius— - Schultens—Maes—Haecx—Gramaye—Erpen—The - Goliuses—Hottinger—Kircher—Ludolf—Rothenacker—Andrew - Müller—Witzen—Wilkins—Leibnitz—Gerard - Müller—Schlötzer—Buttner—Michaelis—Catholic - Missionaries—Richter, Fritz, Widmann, Grebmer, Dobritzhofer, - Werdin—Berchtold, Adelung, Vater, Pallas, Klaproth, Niebuhr, - Humboldt and his School—Castrén, Rask, Bunsen, Biblical - Linguists—Hungarian Linguists—Csoma de Körös, pp. 59-81. - - VI. _British and Irish Linguists._ Crichton—Andrews—Gregory— - Castell, Walton, Pocock, Ockley, Sale, Clarke, Wilkins, - Toland, “Orator” Henley, Carteret, Jones, Marsden, Colebrooke, - Craufurd, Lumsden, Leyden, Vans Kennedy, Adam Clarke, Roberts - Jones, Young, Pritchard, Cardinal Wiseman, Browning, Lee, - Burritt, pp. 81-99. - - VII. _Slavonian Linguists._ _Russians_—Scantiness of - Materials—Early Period—Jaroslav, Boris—The Romanoffs—Beründa - Pameva, Peter the Great, Catherine I., Mentschikoff, - Timkoffsky, Bitchourin, Igumnoff, Giganoff, Tchubinoff, - Goulianoff, Senkowsky, Gretsch, Kazem-Beg—_Poles_—Meninski, - Groddek, Bobrowski, Albertrandy, Rzewuski, - Italinski—_Bohemians_—Komnensky, Dobrowsky, Hanka, pp. 99-110. - - Miraculous gift of tongues—Royal Linguists— - Lady-Linguists—Infant Phenomena—Uneducated Linguists, pp. 110-121. - - LIFE OF CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI. - - CHAPTER I. (1774-98.) - - Birth and family history—Legendary tales—Early - education—First masters—School friends—Ecclesiastical - studies—Illness and interruption of studies—Study of - languages—Anecdote—Ordination—Appointment as Professor of - Arabic—Deprivation of professorship, pp. 125-147. - - CHAPTER II. (1798-1802.) - - Straitened circumstances—Private tuition—The Marescalchi - family—The military hospitals—Manner of study—The Magyar, - Czechish, Polish, Russian, and Flemish languages—Foreigners—The - Confessional—Intense application—Examples of literary - labour, pp. 148-161. - - CHAPTER III. (1803-1806.) - - Appointed as Assistant Librarian of the _Istituto di - Bologna_—_Catalogue Raisonné_—Professorship of Oriental - Languages—Paper on Egyptian obelisks—De Rossi—Correspondence - with him—Polyglot translations—Caronni’s account of him—Visit - to Parma, Pezzana, Bodoni—Persian—Illness—Invitation to settle - at Paris—Domestic relations—Correspondence—Translations, pp. 162-190. - - CHAPTER IV. (1807-14.) - - Labour of compiling Catalogue—His skill as linguist tested by - the Russian Embassy—Deprivation of Professorship—Death of his - mother—Visit to Modena and Parma—Literary friends—Giordani’s - account—Greek scholarship—Bucheron’s trial of his - Latinity—Deputy Librarianship of University—Visitors—Lord - Guildford—Learned societies—Academy of Institute—Paper on - Mexican symbolic Paintings, pp. 191-204. - - CHAPTER V. (1814-17.) - - Restoration of the Papal Government—Pius VII. at - Bologna—Invites Mezzofanti to Rome—Re-appointment as - Professor of Oriental languages—Death of his father—Notices - of Mezzofanti by Tourists—Kephalides—Appointed head - librarian—Pupils—Angelelli—Papers read at Academy, pp. 205-18. - - CHAPTER VI. (1817-20.) - - Tourists’ Notices of Mezzofanti—Society in Bologna—Mr. - Harford—Stewart Rose—Byron—The Opuscoli Letterarj di - Bologna—Panegyric of F. Aponte—Emperor Francis I. at - Bologna—Clotilda Tambroni—Lady Morgan’s account of - Mezzofanti—Inaccuracies—The Bologna dialect—M. Molbech, pp. 219-40. - - CHAPTER VII. (1820-28.) - - Illness—Visit to Mantua, Modena, Pisa, and Leghorn—Solar - Eclipse—Baron Von Zach—Bohemian—Admiral Smyth—The Gipsy - language—Blume—Armenian—Georgian—Flemish—Pupils—Cavedoni, - Veggetti, Rosellini—Foreigners—Daily duties—Correspondence— - Death of Pius VII.—Appointment as member of Collegio dei - Consultori—Jacobs’ account of him—Personal appearance—Cardinal - Cappellari—Translation of Oriental Liturgy—Mezzofanti’s - disinterestedness—Birmese, pp. 241-70. - - CHAPTER VIII. (1828-30.) - - Visit of Crown Prince of Prussia—Trial of skill in - languages—Crown Prince of Sweden—M. Braunerhjelm—Countess of - Blessington—Irish Students—Lady Bellew—Dr. Tholuck—Persian - couplet—Swedish—Cornish Dialect—Frisian—Abate - Fabiani—Letters—Academy of the Filopieri, pp. 271-86. - - CHAPTER IX. (1831.) - - Political parties at Bologna—M. Libri’s account of - Mezzofanti—Hindoo Algebra—Indian literature and history—Indian - languages—Manner of study—Revolution of Bologna—Delegates to - Rome—Mezzofanti at Rome—Reception by Gregory XVI.—Visit to the - Propaganda—Dr. Cullen—Polyglot conversation—Renewed Invitation - to settle at Rome—Consents—Calumnies of revolutionary party—Dr. - Wordsworth—Mr. Milnes—Removal to Rome, pp. 287-300. - - CHAPTER X. (1831-33.) - - Rome a centre of many languages—Mezzofanti’s pretensions - fully tested—Appointments at Rome—Visit to the Chinese - College at Naples—History of the College—Study of - Chinese—Its difficulties—Illness—Return to Rome—Polyglot - society of Rome—The Propaganda—Amusing trials of - skill—Gregory XVI.—Library of Propaganda rich in rare - books on languages—Appointed First Keeper of the Vatican - Library—Letters, pp. 301-17. - - CHAPTER XI. (1834.) - - The Welsh language—Dr. Forster—Dr. Baines—Dr. Edwards—Mr. - Rhys Powell—Flemish—Mgr. Malou—Mgr. Wilde—Canon Aerts—Pere - van Calven—Pere Legrelle—Dutch—M. Leon—Dr. Wap—Mezzofanti’s - extempore Dutch verses—Bohemian—The poet Frankl—Conversations - on German and Magyar Poetry—Maltese—Padre Schembri—Canonico - Falzou—Portuguese—Count de Lavradio, pp. 318-37. - - CHAPTER XII. (1834-36.) - - The Vatican Library—Mezzofanti’s colleagues—College of St. - Peter’s—Mezzofanti made Rector—His literary friends in - Rome—Angelo Mai—Accademia della Cattolica Religione—He reads - papers in this Academy—Gregory XVI.’s kindness—Cardinal - Giustiniani—Albani—Pacca—Zurla—Polyglot party at Cardinal - Zurla’s in his honour—Opinions regarding him—Number of - his languages—Mr. Mazzinghi—Dr. Cox—Dr. Wiseman—Herr - Fleck—Greek Epigram—Herr Fleck’s criticisms—Mezzofanti’s - Latinity—His English—Dr. Baines—Cardinal Wiseman—Mr. Monckton - Milnes—Mezzofanti’s style formed on books—Lady Morgan’s opinion - of his English—Swedish Literature—Professor Carlson—Count - Oxenstjerna—Armenian Literature—Mgr. Hurmuz—Padre Angiarakian - Arabic of Syria—Greek Literature—Mgr. Missir—Romaic—Abate - Matranga—Polish Literature—Sicilian—The poet Meli, pp. 338-54. - - CHAPTER XIII. (1836-38.) - - Californian students in Propaganda—Californian - language—Mezzofanti’s success in it—Nigger Dutch of - Curaçoa—American Indians in Propaganda—Augustine - Hamelin—“The Blackbird”—Mezzofanti’s knowledge of Indian - languages—Dr. Kip—Algonquin—Chippewa Delaware—Father - Thavenet—His studies in the Propaganda—Arabic—Albanese—Mr. - Fernando’s notice of him—Cingalese—East Indian - languages—Hindostani—Mahratta—Guzarattee—Dr. M’Auliffe—Count - Lackersteen—M. Eyoob—Chinese, difficulty of—Chinese - students—Testimony of Abate Umpierres—Cardinal Wiseman—West - African languages—Father Brunner—Angolese—Oriental - languages—Paul Alkushi—“Shalom”—Letter, pp. 355-72. - - CHAPTER XIV. (1838-41.) - - Created Cardinal—The Cardinalate—Its history, duties, - emoluments, congregations, offices—Mezzofanti’s - poverty—Kindness of Gregory XVI.—Congratulations - of his Bolognese friends—The Filopieri—Polyglot - congratulations of the Propaganda—Friends among the - Cardinals—His life as Cardinal—Still continues to acquire - new languages—Abyssinian—M. d’Abbadie—His visit to - Mezzofanti—Basque—Amarinna—Arabic—Ilmorma—Mezzofanti’s - failure—Studies Amarinna—Abyssinian Embassy to Rome—Their - account of the Cardinal—The Basque language—M. d’Abbadie—Prince - L.L. Bonaparte—M. Dassance—Strictures on Mezzofanti—Mrs. - Paget—Baron Glucky de Stenitzer—Guido Görres—Modesty of - Mezzofanti—Mr. Kip—Görres—Cardinal Wiseman—Mezzofanti among - the pupils of the Propaganda, pp. 373-97. - - CHAPTER XV. (1841-43.) - - Author’s recollections of Mezzofanti in 1841—His personal - appearance and manner; his attractive simplicity—Languages - in which the author heard him speak—His English - conversation—Various opinions regarding it—Impressions of - the author—Anecdotes—Cardinal Wiseman—Rev. John Smyth—Father - Kelleher—His knowledge of English literature—Mr. Harford—Dr. - Cox—Cardinal Wiseman—Mr. Grattan—Mr. Badeley—Hudibras—Author’s - own conversation with the Cardinal—The Tractarian movement—Mr. - Grattan—Baron Bunsen—Author’s second visit to Rome—The - Polyglot Academy of the Propaganda—Playful trial of - Mezzofanti’s powers by the students—His wonderful versatility - of language—Analogous examples of this faculty—Description - of it by visitors—His own illustration—The Irish - language—Mezzofanti’s admission regarding it—The Etruria - Celtica—The Eugubian Tables—Amusing experiment suggested - by Mezzofanti—Dr. Murphy—The Gælic language—Mezzofanti’s - extempore Metrical compositions—Specimens—Rapidity with which - he wrote them—Power of accommodating his pronunciation of - Latin to that of the various countries—National interjectional - sounds—Playfulness—Puns, pp. 398-431. - - CHAPTER XVI. (1843-49.) - - Death of his nephew Mgr. Minarelli—His sister - Teresa—Letter—Visitors—Rev. Ingraham Kip—English - conversation—English literature—American literature—The - American Indian languages—Scottish dialect—Burns and Walter - Scott—Rev. John Gray—Mezzofanti as a philologer—Baron - Bunsen—The Abbé Gaume—French patois—Spanish—Father - Burrueco—Mexican—Peruvian—New Zealand language—Armenian - and Turkish—Father Trenz—Russian—M. Mouravieff—The - Emperor Nicholas—Polish—Klementyna z Tanskich - Hoffmanowa—Makrena, Abbess of Minsk—Her history—Her account - of Mezzofanti—His occupations—House of Catechumens—First - communion—_Fervorini_—The confessional—Death of Gregory - XVI.—Election of Pius IX.—Mezzofanti’s epigrams on the - occasion—His relations with the new Pope—Father Bresciani’s - account of him—The revolution of 1848—Its effect on Cardinal - Mezzofanti—His illness—Death and funeral, pp. 432-56. - - CHAPTER XVII. (RECAPITULATION.) - - Plan pursued in preparing this Biography—Points of - inquiry—Number of languages known to Mezzofanti—What is meant - by knowledge of a language—Popular notion of it—Mezzofanti’s - number of languages progressive—Dr. Minarelli’s list of - languages known by him—Classification of languages according - to the degrees of his knowledge—Languages spoken by him with - great perfection—Languages spoken less perfectly—Languages in - which he could initiate a conversation—Languages known from - books—Dialects—Southern and central American languages—Total - number known to him in various degrees—His speaking of - languages not literally faultless, but perfect to a degree - rare in foreigners—Comparison with other linguists—His plan - of studying languages—Various systems of study—Mezzofanti’s - method involved much labour—Habit of thinking in foreign - languages—His success a special gift of nature—In what this - consisted—Quickness of perception—Analysis—Memory—Peculiarity - of his memory—His enthusiasm and simplicity—Mezzofanti as a - philologer, as a critic, a historian, a man of science—Piety - and charity, liberal and tolerant spirit—Social virtues, pp. 457-493. - - APPENDIX, pp. 495-502. - - - - -CORRIGENDA. - - - Page 35, Line 5, for “yards” read “feet.” - 52, last, after “(1704),” supply “who.” - 57, 21, for “Bourmouf,” read “Bournouf.” - 59, 8, for “John and,” read “and John.” - 76, 2nd last, for “Boehthingk,” read “Boehtlingk.” - 117, 4th last, (and three other places,) for “marvelous,” - read “marvellous.” - 119, 2nd last, for “months,” read “years.” - 121, 2nd last, for “Hall,” read “Hill.” - 281, 22, for “Grüner,” read “Grüder.” - 283, 17, for “Rabinical,” read “Rabbinical.” - 312, 10, for “unable,” read “able.” - 426, 4th last, for “seneeta,” read “senecta;” also - interchange ; and ! - -Transcriber’s Note: The corrections have been made. - - - - -[Illustration: _Fac-similes in Sixteen Languages._] - - - - -MEMOIRS OF EMINENT LINGUISTS. - - -In the Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti I have attempted to ascertain, by -direct evidence, the exact number of languages with which that great -linguist was acquainted, and the degree of his familiarity with each. - -Eminence in any pursuit, however, is necessarily relative. We are -easily deceived about a man’s stature until we have seen him by the -side of other men; nor shall we be able to form a just notion of the -linguistic accomplishments of Cardinal Mezzofanti, or at least to bring -them before our minds as a practical reality, until we shall have first -considered what had been effected before him by other men who attained to -distinction in the same department. - -I have thought it desirable, therefore, to prefix to his Life a summary -history of the most eminent linguists of ancient and modern times. There -is no branch of scholarship which has left fewer traces in literature, -or has received a more scanty measure of justice from history. Viewed in -the light of a curious but unpractical pursuit, skill in languages is -admired for a time, perhaps indeed enjoys an exaggerated popularity; but -it passes away like a nine days’ wonder, and seldom finds an exact or -permanent record. Hence, while the literature of every country abounds -with memoirs of distinguished poets, philosophers, and historians, few, -even among professed antiquarians, have directed their attention to the -history of eminent linguists, whether in ancient or in modern times. In -all the ordinary repositories of curious learning—Pliny, Aulus Gellius, -and Athenæus, among the ancients; Bayle, Gibbon, Feyjoo, Disraeli, -and Vulpius, among the moderns—this interesting chapter is entirely -overlooked; nor does it appear to have engaged the attention even of -linguists or philologers themselves. - -The following Memoir, therefore, must claim the indulgence due to a first -essay in a new and difficult subject. No one can be more sensible than -the writer of its many imperfections;—of the probable omission of names -which should have been recorded;—of the undue prominence of others with -inferior pretensions; and perhaps of still more serious inaccuracies of -a different kind. It is only offered in the absence of something better -and more complete; and with the hope of directing to what is certainly a -curious and interesting subject, the attention of others who enjoy more -leisure and opportunity for its investigation. - - * * * * * - -The diversity of languages which prevails among the various branches -of the human family, has proved, almost equally with their local -dispersion, a barrier to that free intercommunion which is one of -the main instruments of civilization. “The confusion of tongues, the -first great judgment of God upon the ambition of man,” says Bacon, in -the Introductory Book of his “Advancement of Learning,” “hath chiefly -imbarred the open trade and intercourse of learning and knowledge.”[1] -Perhaps it would be more correct to say that these two great impediments -to intercourse have mutually assisted each other. The divergency of -languages seems to keep pace with the dispersion of the population. -Adelung lays it down as the result of the most careful philological -investigations, that where the difficulties of intercourse are such as -existed among the ancients and as still prevail among the less civilized -populations, no language can maintain itself unchanged over a space of -more than one hundred and fifty thousand square miles.[2] - -It might naturally be expected, therefore, that one of the earliest -efforts of the human intellect would have been directed towards the -removal of this barrier, and that one of the first sciences to invite -the attention of men would have been the knowledge of languages. Few -sciences, nevertheless, were more neglected by the ancients. - -It is true that the early literatures of many of the ancient nations -contain legends on this head which might almost throw into the shade the -greatest marvels related of Mezzofanti. In one of the Chinese stories -regarding the youth of Buddha, translated by Klaproth, it is related -that, when he was ten years old, he asked his preceptor, Babourenou, to -teach him all the languages of the earth, seeing that he was to be an -apostle to all men; and that when Babourenou confessed his ignorance -of all except the Indian dialects, the child himself taught his master -“fifty foreign tongues with their respective characters.”[3] A still -more marvellous tale is told by one of the Rabbinical historians, Rabbi -Eliezer, who relates that Mordechai, (one of the great heroes of Talmudic -legend), was acquainted with seventy languages; and that it was by means -of this gift he understood the conversation of the two eunuchs who were -plotting in a foreign tongue the death of the king.[4] Nor is the Koran -without its corresponding prodigy. When the Prophet was carried up to -Heaven, before the throne of the Most High, “God promised that he should -have the knowledge of all languages.”[5] - -But when we turn to the genuine records of antiquity, we find no ground -for the belief that such legends as these have even that ordinary -substructure of truth which commonly underlies the fables of mythology. -Neither the Sacred Narratives, nor those of the early profane authors, -contain a single example of remarkable proficiency in languages. - -It is true that in the later days of the Jewish people, interpreters -were appointed in the synagogues to explain the lessons read from the -Hebrew Scriptures for the benefit of their foreign brethren; that in -all the courts of the Eastern monarchs interpreters were found, through -whom they communicated with foreign envoys, or with the motley tribes of -their own empire; and that professional interpreters were at the service -of foreigners in the great centres of commerce or travel,[6] who, it -may be presumed, were masters of several languages. The philosophers, -too, who traversed remote countries in pursuit of wisdom, can hardly be -supposed to have returned without some acquaintance with the languages -of the nations among whom they had voyaged. Solon and Pythagoras are -known to have visited Egypt and the East; the latter also sojourned for -a considerable time in Italy and the islands; the wanderings of Plato -are said to have been even more extensive. Nay, in some instances these -pilgrims of knowledge extended their researches beyond the limits of -their own ethnographical region. Thus, on the one hand, the Scythian -sages, Anacharsis and Zamolxis, themselves most probably of the Mongol -or Tartar tongue, sojourned for a long time in countries where the -Indo-European family of languages alone prevailed; on the other, the -merchants of Tyre were in familiar and habitual intercourse with the -Italo-Pelasgic race; and the Phœnician explorers, in their well-known -circumnavigation of Africa described by Herodotus, must have come -in contact with still more numerous varieties both of race and of -tongue. Nevertheless it may fairly be doubted whether these or similar -opportunities among the ancients, resulted in any very remarkable -attainments in the department of languages. The absence of all record -furnishes a strong presumption to the contrary; and there is one example, -that of Herodotus, which would almost be in itself conclusive. This acute -and industrious explorer devoted many years to foreign travel. He visited -every city of note in Greece and Asia Minor, and every site of the -great battles between the Greeks and Barbarians. He explored the whole -line of the route of Xerxes in his disastrous expedition. He visited in -succession all the chief islands of the Egean, as well as those of the -western coast of Greece. His landward wanderings extended far into the -interior. He reached Babylon, Ecbatana, and Susa, and spent some time -among the Scythian tribes on the shores of the Black Sea. He resided -long in Egypt, from which he passed southwards as far as Elephantine, -eastwards into Arabia, and westwards through Lybia, at least as far as -Cyrene. And yet Dahlmann is of opinion that, with all his industry, and -all the spirit of inquiry which was his great characteristic, Herodotus -never became acquainted even with the language of Egypt, but contented -himself with the service of an interpreter.[7] - -In like manner, it would be difficult to shew, either from the Cyropædia, -or the Expedition of Cyrus, that Xenophon, during his foreign travel, -became master of Persian or any kindred Eastern tongue. Nor am I aware -that there has ever been discovered in the writings of Plato any evidence -of familiarity with the language of those Eastern philosophers from whose -science he is believed to have drawn so largely. - -It is strange that the two notable exceptions to this barrenness of -eminent linguists which characterizes the classic times, Mithridates -and Cleopatra, should both have been of royal rank. The former, the -celebrated king of Pontus, long one of the most formidable enemies of -the Roman name, is alleged to have spoken fluently the languages of all -the subjects of his empire; an empire so vast, and comprising so many -different nationalities as to throw an air of improbability over the -story. According to Aulus Gellius,[8] he “was thoroughly conversant” -(_percalluit_) with the languages of all the nations (_twenty-five in -number_) over which his rule extended.[9] The other writers who relate -the circumstance—Valerius Maximus,[10] Pliny,[11] and Solinus—make the -number only twenty-two. Some commentators have regarded the story as a -gross exaggeration; and others have sought to diminish its marvellousness -by explaining it of different dialects, rather than of distinct -languages. But there does not appear in the narrative of the original -writers any reason whether for the doubt or for the restriction. Pliny -declares that “it is quite certain;” and the matter-of-fact tone in which -they all relate it, makes it clear that they wished to be understood -literally. It was the king’s invariable practice, they tell us, to -communicate with all the subjects of his polyglot empire directly and in -person, and “never through an interpreter;” and Gellius roundly affirms -that he was able to converse in each and every one of these tongues -“with as much correctness as if it were his native dialect.” - -The attainments of Cleopatra, although far short of what is reported -of Mithridates, are nevertheless described by Plutarch[12] as very -extraordinary. He says that she “spoke most languages, and that there -were but few of the foreign ambassadors to whom she gave audience through -an interpreter.” The languages which he specifies are those of the -Ethiopians, of the Troglodytes (probably a dialect of Coptic), of the -Hebrews, of the Arabs, the Syrians, the Medes, and the Persians; but -he adds that this list does not comprise all the languages which this -extraordinary woman understood. - -Now the very prominence assigned to these examples, and the absence of -all allusion to any other which might be supposed to approximate to them, -may afford a presumption that they are almost solitary. Valerius Maximus, -in his well-known chapter _De Studio et Industria_, cites the case of -Mithridates as a very remarkable example “of study and industry.” It is -highly probable therefore, that, if he knew any other eminent linguists, -he would have added their names. Yet the only cases which he instances -are those of Cato learning Greek in his old age, of Themistocles -acquiring Persian during his exile, and of Publius mastering all the five -dialects of Greece during the time of his Prætorship. In like manner, -Aulus Gellius has no more notable linguist to produce, in contrast with -Mithridates, than the old poet Ennius, who used to boast that he had -three hearts,[13] because he could speak Greek, Latin, and his rude -native dialect, Oscan. And Pliny, with all his love of parallels, is even -more meagre:—he does not recite a single name in comparison with that of -Mithridates. - - * * * * * - -The Romans, especially under the early Republic, appear to have been -singularly indifferent or unsuccessful in cultivating languages; and -the bad Greek of the Roman ambassadors to Tarentum, for their ridicule -of which the Tarentines paid so dearly, is almost an average specimen -of the accomplishments of the earlier Romans as linguists. Nor can -this circumstance fail to appear strange, when it is remembered over -how many different races and tongues the wide domain of Rome extended. -The very multiplicity of languages submitted to her government would -seem to have imposed upon her public men the necessity of familiarizing -themselves, even for the discharge of their public office, with at least -the principal ones among them. But, on the contrary, for a long time they -steadily pursued the policy of imposing, as far as practicable, upon -the conquered nationalities the Latin language, at least in public and -official transactions.[14] - -And, so far as regards the Eastern and Northern languages, this exclusion -was successfully and permanently enforced at Rome. The slave population -of the city comprised almost every variety of race within the limits of -the Empire. The very names of the slaves who are introduced in the plays -of Plautus and Terence—Syra, Phœnicium, Afer, Geta, Dorias, &c. (which -are but their respective gentile appellatives)—embrace a very large -circle of the languages of Asia, Africa, and Northern Europe. And yet, -with the exception of a single scene in the Pænulus of Plautus, in which -the well-known Punic speech of Hanno the Carthaginian is introduced,[15] -there is nothing in either of these dramatists from which we could -infer that any of the manifold languages of the slave population of -Rome effected an entrance among their haughty masters. They were all as -completely ignored by the Romans, as is the vernacular Celtic of the -Irish agricultural servant in the midland counties of England. - -But it was not so for Greek. From the Augustan age onwards, this polished -language began to dispute the mastery with Latin, even in Rome itself. - - “Græcia capta ferum cepit captorem, et artes - Intulit agresti Latio—” - -applies to the language, even more than to the arts. In the days of the -Rhetorician, Molon, (Cicero’s master in eloquence,) Greek had obtained -the entrée of the Senate. In the time of Tiberius, its use was permitted -even in forensic pleadings. With the emperors who succeeded,[16] the -triumph of Greek was still more complete. From Pliny downwards, there is -hardly an author of eminence in the Roman Empire who did not write in -that language;—Pausanias, Dion, Galen, even the Emperor Marcus Aurelius -himself, with all the traditionary Roman associations of his name. - -It was so also with the Christian population and the Christian literature -of Rome. Almost all the Christian writings of the first two centuries -are in Greek. The early Roman liturgy was Greek. The population of Rome -was in great part a Greek-speaking race. A large proportion of the -inscriptions in the Roman Catacombs are Greek, and some even of the Latin -ones are engraved in Greek characters. Nay, the early Christian churches -in Gaul, Vienne, Lyons, and Marseilles, and the few remains of their -literature which have reached us, are equally Greek.[17] - -In a word, during the first two centuries of the Christian era, making -due allowance for the difference of the periods, Greek and Latin held -towards each other in Rome the same relation which we find between -Norman-French and Saxon in England after the Conquest; and we may safely -say that, during those centuries, a knowledge of both languages was the -ordinary accomplishment of all educated men, and was shared by many of -the lowest of the population. - -Beyond this limit, however, we read of no remarkable linguists even among -the accomplished scholars of the Augustan age. No one will doubt that the -two Varros may fairly be taken as, in this respect, the most favourable -specimens of the class. Now neither of them seems to have gone further -than a knowledge of Greek. Out of the four hundred and ninety books which -Marcus Terentius Varro wrote, there is not one named which would indicate -familiarity with any other foreign language. - -The Neo-Platonists of the second and third centuries, whose researches -in Oriental Philosophy must have brought them into contact with some of -the Eastern languages, may possibly form an exception to this general -statement; but, on the whole, in the absence of positive and exact -information on the subject, it may not unreasonably be conjectured that, -among the Christian scholars of the second, third, and fourth centuries, -we might find a wider range of linguistic attainments than among their -gentile contemporaries. The critical study of the Bible itself involved -the necessity of familiarity, not only with Greek and Hebrew, but with -more than one cognate oriental dialect besides. St. Jerome, besides -the classic languages and his native Illyrian, is known to have been -familiar with several of the Eastern tongues; and it is not improbable -that some of the earlier commentators and expositors of the Bible may be -taken as equally favourable specimens of the Christian linguists.[18] -Origen’s Hexapla is a monument of his scholarship in Hebrew, and probably -in Syriac and Samaritan. St. Clement of Alexandria was perhaps even a -more accomplished linguist; for he tells that of the masters under whom -he studied, one was from Greece, one from Magna Græcia, a third from -Cœle-Syria, a fourth from Egypt, a fifth an Assyrian, and a sixth a -Hebrew.[19] And St. Gregory Nazianzen expressly relates of his friend St. -Basil, that, even before he came to Athens to commence his rhetorical -studies, he was already well-versed in many languages.[20] - -From the death of Constantine, however, the study began rapidly to -decline, even among ecclesiastics. The disruption of the Empire naturally -tended to diminish the intercourse between East and West, and by -consequence the interchange of their languages. It would appear, too, as -if the barbarian conquerors adopted, in favour of their own languages, -the same policy which the Romans had pursued for Latin. Attila is said -to have passed a law prohibiting the use of the Latin language in his -newly conquered kingdom,[21] and to have taken pains, by importing native -teachers, to procure the substitution of Gothic in its stead. At all -events, in whatever way the change was brought about, a knowledge of -both Greek and Latin, which in the classic times of the Empire had been -the ordinary accomplishment of every educated man, became uncommon and -almost exceptional. Pope Gregory the Great, who, bitterly as he has been -assailed as an enemy of letters, must be confessed to have been the -most eminent Western scholar of his day, spoke Greek very imperfectly; -he complains that it was difficult, even at Constantinople, to find any -one who could translate Greek satisfactorily into Latin;[22] and a still -earlier instance is recorded, in which a pope, in other respects a man -of undoubted ability, was unable to translate the letter of the Greek -patriarch, much less to communicate with the Greek ambassadors, except -through an interpreter.[23] - -More than one, indeed, of the early theological controversies was -embittered through the misunderstandings caused between the East and -West by mutual ignorance of each other’s language. Pelagius succeeded -in obtaining a favourable decision from the Council of Jerusalem in -415, chiefly because, while his Western adversary, Orosius, was unable -to speak Greek, the fathers of the Council were ignorant of Latin. The -protracted controversy on the Three Chapters owed much of its inveteracy -to the ignorance of the Westerns[24] of the original language of the -works whose orthodoxy was impugned; and it is well known that the -condemnation of the decree of the sixth council on the use of sacred -images issued by the fathers of Francfort, was based exclusively on a -strangely erroneous Latin translation of the acts of the council, through -which translation alone they were known in Germany and Gaul.[25] - -The foundation of the Empire of Charlemagne consummated the separation -between the Greek and Latin races and their languages. The venerated -names of Bede and of Alcuin in the Western Church, and the more -questionable celebrity of the Patriarch Photius in the Eastern, -constitute a passing exception. But it need hardly be added that they -stand almost entirely alone; and it will readily be believed that, -amid the Barbarian irruptions from without, and the fierce intestine -revolutions, of which Europe was the theatre during the rest of the -earlier mediæval period, even that familiarity with the Greek and -oriental languages which we have described, entirely disappeared in the -West. - -The wars of the Crusades, and the reviving intellectual activity -in which this and other great events of the second mediæval period -originated, gave a new impulse to the study of languages. Frederic II., -a remarkable example of the union of great intellectual gifts with deep -moral perversity, spoke fluently six languages, Latin, Greek, Italian, -German, Hebrew, and even Arabic.[26] The Moorish schools in Spain began -to be visited by Christian students. In this manner Arabic found its -way into the West; and the intermixture of learned Jews in the European -kingdoms afforded similar opportunities for the cultivation of Hebrew, -which were turned to account by many, especially among biblical scholars. -On the other hand, notwithstanding the contempt for profane learning -which breathes through the Koran, the Saracen scholars began to direct -their attention to the learning of other creeds, and the languages of -other races. Ibn Wasil, who came into Italy in 1250 as ambassador to -Manfred, the son of Frederic II., was reported to be familiar with the -Western tongues. The Spanish Moors, too, began sedulously to cultivate -Greek. The works of Aristotle, of Galen, of Dioscorides, and many other -Greek writers, chiefly philosophical, were translated into Arabic by -Averroes, Ibn Djoldjol and Avicenna. And the Jewish scholars of that age -were equally assiduous in the cultivation of Greek. The learned Rabbi -Maimonides, born in Cordova in the early part of the 12th century, was -not only master of many Eastern tongues, but was also thoroughly familiar -with the Greek language. - -It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that it was among the Moors or -the Hebrews that the revival of the study of languages first commenced. -Alcuin, in addition to the modern languages with which his sojourn in -various kingdoms must have made him acquainted, was also familiar with -Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Hermann, the Dalmatian, the first translator -of the Koran, was well acquainted with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. -The celebrated Raymond Lully, who was a native of Majorca, was able to -lecture in Latin Greek, Arabic, and perhaps Hebrew;—an accomplishment -especially wonderful in one who was among the most laborious and -prolific writers of his age, and who left after him, according to some -authorities, (though this, no doubt, is a great exaggeration), not less -than a thousand[27] works on the most diversified subjects. At the -instance of this eminent orientalist, the council of Vienne directed that -professorships should be founded in all the great Universities, for the -Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic languages.[28] - -An example of, for the period, very remarkable proficiency in modern -languages is recorded in the history of the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215. -Roderigo Ximenes,[29] Archbishop of Toledo in the early part of the -thirteenth century, a native of Navarre, but a scholar of the University -of Paris, was one of the representatives of the Spanish Church at that -Council. A controversy regarding the Primacy of Spain had arisen between -the Sees of Toledo and Compostella, which was referred for adjudication -to the bishops there assembled. Ximenes addressed to the council a long -Latin oration in defence of the claim of Toledo; and, as many of his -auditory, which consisted both of the clergy and the laity, were ignorant -of that language, he repeated the same argument in a series of discourses -addressed to the natives of each country in succession; to the Romans, -Germans, French, English, Navarrese, and Spaniards,[30] each in their -respective tongues. Thus the number of languages in which he spoke was -at least seven, and it is highly probable that he had others at his -disposal, if his auditory had been of such a nature as to render them -necessary. - -The taste for the languages and literature of the East received a -further stimulus from the foundation of the Christian principalities -at Antioch and Jerusalem, from the establishment of the Latin Empire -at Constantinople, and in general from the long wars in the East, to -which the enthusiasm of the age attracted the most enterprising spirits -of European chivalry. The pious pilgrimages, too, contributed to the -same result. Many of the knights or palmers, on their return from the -East, brought with them the knowledge, not only of Greek, but of more -than one of the oriental languages besides. The long imprisonments to -which, during the holy wars, and the Latin campaigns against the Turks, -they were often subjected, supplied another occasion of familiarity with -Arabic, Syriac, Turkish, or Persian. - -The commercial enterprise of the Western Nations, and especially of -the Venetians and Genoese, was a still more powerful instrument of the -interchange of languages. Few modern voyagers have possessed more of -that spirit of travel which is the best aid towards the acquisition of -foreign tongues, than the celebrated Marco Polo. It is hard to suppose -that he can have returned from his extensive wanderings in Persia, in -Tartary, in the Indian Archipelago, and in China and Tibet, without some -tincture of their languages. Still less can this be supposed of his -countryman, Josaphat Barbaro, who sojourned for sixteen years among the -Tartar tribes.[31] It was in the commercial settlements of the Venetians -in the Levant that the profession of interpreters, of which I shall have -to speak hereafter, and which has since become hereditary in certain -families, was originated or brought to perfection.[32] - - * * * * * - -It is only, however, from the revival of letters, properly so called, -that the history of linguistic studies can be truly said to commence. - -The attention of Scholars, in the first instance, was chiefly directed -towards the classical languages and the languages of the Bible. The -Greek scholars who were driven to the West by the Moslem occupation of -Constantinople brought their language, in its best and most attractive -form, to the Universities of Italy. In the Council of Florence, in 1438, -more than one Italian divine, especially Ambrogio Traversari, was found -capable of holding discussions with the Greek representatives in their -native tongue. In like manner, the Jews and Moors, who were exiled from -Spain by the harsh and impolitic measures of Ferdinand and Isabella, -deposited through all the schools of Europe the seeds of a solid and -critical knowledge of Hebrew and Arabic and their cognate languages. The -fruits of their teaching may be discerned at a comparatively early period -in the biblical studies of the time. Antonio de Lebrixa published, in -1481, a grammar of the Latin, Castilian and Hebrew languages: and I need -only allude to the mature and various oriental learning which Cardinal -Ximenes found ready to his hand, in the very first years of the sixteenth -century, for the compilation of the Complutensian Polyglot. Although -some of the scholars whom he engaged, as for instance, Demetrius Ducas, -were Greeks; and others, as Alfonzo Zamora or Pablo Coronell,[33] were -converted Jews; yet, the names of Lopez de Zuniga, Nunez de Guzman, and -Vergara[34] are a sufficient evidence of the success with which the -co-operation of native scholars was enlisted in the undertaking.[35] - - * * * * * - -From this period the number of scholars eminent in the department -of languages becomes so great, and the history of many among them -presents so frequent points of resemblance, that it may conduce to the -greater distinctness of the narrative to classify separately the most -distinguished linguists of each among the principal nations. - - -§ I. LINGUISTS OF THE EAST. - -Although the inquiry must of course commence with the East, the cradle -of human language, unfortunately the materials for this portion of the -subject are more meagre and imperfectly preserved than any other. - -In the East indeed, the faculty of language appears, for the most part, -in a form quite different from what we shall find among the scholars of -the West. The Eastern linguists, with a few exceptions, have been eminent -as mere _speakers_ of languages, rather than scholars even in the loosest -sense of the word. - -As it is in the East that the office of _Dragoman_ or “interpreter” first -rose to the dignity of a profession, so all the most notable Oriental -linguists have belonged to that profession. - -A very remarkable specimen of this class occurs in the reign of Soliman -the Magnificent, and flourished in the early part of the sixteenth -century. A most interesting account is given of him, under his Turkish -name of Genus Bey, by Thevet, in that curious repertory—his _Cosmographie -Universelle_.[36] He was the son of a poor fisherman, of the Island of -Corfu; and while yet a boy, was carried away by pirates and sold as a -slave at Constantinople. Thence he was carried into Egypt, Syria, and -other Eastern countries; and he would also seem to have visited most of -the European kingdoms, or at least to have enjoyed the opportunity of -intercourse with natives of them all. His proficiency in the languages -both of the East and West, drew upon him the notice of the Sultan, who -appointed him his First Dragoman, with the rank of Pasha. Thevet (who -would seem to have known him personally during his wanderings,) describes -him in his quaint old French, as “the first man of his day for speaking -divers sorts of languages, and of the happiest memory under the Heavens.” -He adds, that this extraordinary man “knew perfectly no fewer than -sixteen languages, viz: Greek, both ancient and modern, Hebrew, Arabic, -Persian, Turkish, Moorish, Tartar, Armenian, Russian, Hungarian, Polish, -Italian, Spanish, German, and French.” Genus Bey, was, of course, a -renegade; but, from a circumstance related by Thevet, he appears to have -retained a reverence for his old faith, though not sufficiently strong to -be proof against temptation. He was solicited by some bigoted Moslems to -remove a bell, which the Christians had been permitted to erect in their -little church. For a time he refused to permit its removal; but at last -he was induced by a large bribe, to accede to the demand. Thevet relates -that, in punishment of his sacrilegious weakness, he was struck with that -loathsome disease which smote King Herod, and perished miserably in nine -days from the date of this inauspicious act. - -In Naima’s “Annals of the Turkish Empire,” another renegade, a Hungarian -by birth, is mentioned, who spoke fourteen languages, and who, in -consequence of this accomplishment, was employed during a siege to carry -a message through the lines of the blockading army.[37] - -A still more marvellous example of the gift of languages is mentioned by -Duret, in his _Trésor des Langues_ (p. 964)—that of Jonadab, a Jew of -Morocco, who lived about the same period. He was sold as a slave by the -Moors, and lived for twenty-six years in captivity in different parts -of the world. With more constancy to his creed, however, than the Corfu -Christian, he withstood every attempt to undermine his faith or to compel -its abjuration; and, from the obduracy of his resistance, received from -his masters the opprobrious name _Alhanar_, “the serpent” or “viper.” -Duret says that Jonadab spoke and wrote twenty-eight different languages. -He does not specify their names, however, nor have I been able to find -any other allusion to the man. - -It would be interesting, if materials could be found for the inquiry, -to pursue this extremely curious subject through the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries, and especially in the military and commercial -establishments of the Venetians in the Morea and the islands. The race -of Dragomans has never ceased to flourish in the Levant. M. Antoine -d’Abbadie informed me that there are many families in which this office, -and sometimes the consular appointment for which it is an indispensable -qualification, have been hereditary for the last two or three centuries; -and that it is very common to find among them men and women who, -sufficiently for all the ordinary purposes of conversation, speak Arabic, -Turkish, Greek, Italian, Spanish, English, German, and French, with -little or no accent. This accomplishment is not confined to one single -nation. Mr. Burton, in his “Pilgrimage to Medinah and Meccah,” mentions -an Afghan who “spoke five or six languages.”[38] He speaks of another, -a Koord settled at Medinah, who “spoke five languages in perfection.” -The traveller, he assures us, “may hear the Cairene donkey-boys shouting -three or four European dialects with an accent as good as his own;” and -he “has frequently known Armenians (to whom, among all the Easterns, he -assigns the first place as linguists) speak, besides their mother tongue, -Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and Hindostanee, and at the same time display -an equal aptitude for the Occidental languages.”[39] - -But of all the Eastern linguists of the present day the most notable -seem to be the ciceroni who take charge of the pilgrims at Mecca, many -of whom speak fluently every one of the numerous languages which prevail -over the vast region of the Moslem. Mr. Burton fell in at Mecca with -a one-eyed Hadji, who spoke fluently and with good accent Turkish, -Persian, Hindostani, Pushtu, Armenian, English, French, and Italian.[40] -In the “Turkish Annals” of Naima, already cited, the learned Vankuli -Mohammed Effendi, a contemporary of Sultan Murad Khan, is described as -“a perfect linguist.”[41] Many similar instances might, without much -difficulty, be collected; nor can it be doubted that, among the numerous -generations which have thus flourished and passed away in the East, there -may have been rivals for Genus Bey, or even for “the Serpent” himself. -But unhappily their fame has been local and transitory. They were admired -during their brief day of success, but are long since forgotten; nor is -it possible any longer to recover a trace of their history. They are -unknown, - - Carent quia vate sacro.[42] - -It would be a great injustice, however, to represent this as the -universal character of the Eastern linguists. On the contrary, it has -only needed intercourse with the scholars of the West in order to draw -out what appears to be the very remarkable aptitude of the native -Orientals for the scientific study of languages. Thus the learned -Portuguese Jew, Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel (1604-1657), was not only a -thorough master of the Oriental languages, but was able to write with -ease and exactness several of the languages of the West, and published -almost indifferently in Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, and English.[43] I allude -more particularly, however, to those bodies of Eastern Christians, which, -from their community of creed with the Roman Church, have, for several -centuries, possessed ecclesiastical establishments in Rome and other -cities of Europe. - -The Syrians had been remarkable, even from the classic times,[44] for -the patient industry with which they devoted themselves to the labour of -translation from foreign languages into their own. Many of the modern -Syrians, however, have deserved the still higher fame of original -scholarship. - -The Maronite community of Syrian Christians has produced several scholars -of unquestioned eminence. Abraham Echellensis was one of the chief -assistants of Le Jay, at Paris, in the preparation of his Polyglot. His -services in a somewhat similar capacity at Rome are familiar to all -Oriental scholars. But it is to the name of Assemani that the Maronite -body owes most of its reputation. For a time, indeed, literature would -seem to have been almost an inheritance in the family of Assemani. It has -contributed to the catalogue of Oriental scholars no less than five of -its members—Joseph Simon, who died in 1768; his nephews, Stephen Evodius -and Joseph Lewis; Joseph Aloysius, who died at Rome in 1782; and Simon, -who died at Padua in 1821. The first of them is the well-known editor of -the works of St. Ephrem, and author of the great repertory of Oriental -ecclesiastical erudition, the _Bibliotheca Orientalis_. - -The Greeks, with greater resources, and under circumstances more -favourable, are less distinguished as linguists. John Matthew -Caryophilos, a native of Corfu, who was archbishop of Iconium and -resided at Rome in the early part of the seventeenth century, was a -learned Orientalist, and, besides several literary works of higher -pretension, published some elementary books on the Chaldee, Syriac, and -Coptic languages. But he has few imitators among his countrymen. Leo -Allatius (Allazzi), although a profound scholar, and familiar with every -department of the literature of the West, whether sacred or profane,[45] -can hardly be considered a linguist in the ordinary sense of the word. -The same may be said of the many Greek students, as, for instance, -Metaxa, Meletius Syrius, and others, who, during the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries, repaired to the universities of Italy, France, -and even England.[46] It can hardly be doubted, of course, that many of -them acquired a certain familiarity with the languages of the countries -in which they sojourned, but no traces of this knowledge appear to be -now discoverable. By far the most notable of them, Cyrillus Lucaris, -the well-known Calvinistic Patriarch of Constantinople, spoke and -wrote fluently Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Italian; but, if his latinity -be a fair sample of his skill in the other languages, his place as a -linguist must be held low indeed.[47] It should be added, however, -that as polyglot speakers, the Greeks have long enjoyed a considerable -reputation. The celebrated Panagiotes Nicusius[48] (better known by his -Italianized name Panagiotti) obtained, despite all the prejudices of -race, the post of First Dragoman of the Porte, about the middle of the -seventeenth century; and, from his time forward, the office was commonly -held by a Greek, until the separation of Greece from the Ottoman Empire. - -Mr. Burton’s observation that no natives of the East seem to possess the -faculty of language in a higher degree than the Armenians, is confirmed -by the experience of all other travellers; and the commercial activity -which has long distinguished them, and has led to their establishing -themselves in almost all the great European centres of commerce, has -tended very much to develope this national characteristic. A far higher -spirit of enterprise has led to the foundation of many religious -establishments of the Armenians in different parts of Europe, which have -rendered invaluable services, not only to their own native language -and literature, but to Oriental studies generally. Among these the -fathers of the celebrated Mechitarist order have earned for themselves, -by their manifold contributions to sacred literature, the title of -the Benedictines of the East. The publications of this learned order -(especially at their principal press in the convent of San Lazzaro, -Venice,) are too well known to require any particular notice. Most of -their publications regard historical or theological subjects; but many -also are on the subject of language,[49] as grammars, dictionaries, -and philological treatises. A little series of versions, the Prayers -of St. Nerses in twenty-four languages, printed at their press, is -one of the most beautiful specimens of polyglot typography with which -I am acquainted. Among the scholars of the order the names of Somal, -Rhedeston, Ingigean, Avedichian, Minaos, and, above all, of the two -Auchers, are the most prominent. One of the latter is best known to -English readers as the friend of Byron, his instructor in Armenian, and -his partner in the compilation of an Anglo-Armenian grammar. The fathers -of this order generally, however, both in Vienna and in Italy, have long -enjoyed the reputation of being excellent linguists. Visitors of the -Armenian convent of St. Lazzaro at Venice cannot fail to be struck by -this accomplishment among its inmates. Besides the ordinary Oriental -languages, most of them speak Italian, French, and often German. I have -heard from M. Antoine d’Abbadie that, in 1837, Dr. Pascal Aucher spoke no -less than twelve languages. - - -§ II. LINGUISTS OF ITALY. - -The most prominent among the nations of the West at the period -immediately succeeding the Revival of Letters, is of course Italy. - - * * * * * - -The first in order, dating from this period, among the linguists of -Italy, is also in many respects the most remarkable of them all;—at least -as illustrating the possibility of uniting in a single individual the -most diversified intellectual attainments, each in the highest degree -of perfection;—the celebrated Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, son of the -Duke John Francis of that name.[50] He was born in 1463, and from his -childhood was regarded as one of the wonders of his age. Before he had -completed his tenth year, he delivered lectures in civil and canon law, -not less remarkable for eloquence than for learning. While yet a boy he -was familiar with all the principal Greek and Latin classics. He next -applied himself to Hebrew; and, while he was engaged in that study, -a large collection of cabalistic manuscripts, which were represented -to him as genuine works of Esdras, turned his attention to the other -Eastern languages, and especially the Chaldee, the Rabbinical dialect -of Hebrew, and the Arabic. Unfortunately, the strange and fantastic -learning with which he was thus thrown into contact gave a tinge to his -mind, which appears to have affected all his later studies. His progress -in languages, however, cannot but be regarded as prodigious, when we -consider the poverty of the linguistic resources of his age. At the age -of eighteen he had the reputation of knowing no fewer than twenty-two -languages, a considerable number of which he spoke with fluency. And -while he thus successfully cultivated the department of languages, he -was, at the same time, an extraordinary proficient in all the other -knowledge of his day. His memory was so wonderful as to be reckoned -among the marvellous examples of that gift which are enumerated by the -writers upon this faculty of the human mind. Cancellieri states that he -was able, after a single reading, not only to recite the contents of -any book which was offered to him, but to repeat the very words of the -author, and even in an inverted order.[51] In 1486 he maintained a thesis -in Rome, _De omni Re Scibili_. Much of the learning which it displayed -was certainly of a very idle and puerile character; much of it, too, was -the merest pedantry; but nevertheless it is undeniable that the nine -hundred propositions of which it consisted, comprised every department of -knowledge cultivated at that period. And it is impossible to doubt that, -if Pico’s career had been prolonged to the usual term of human life, his -reputation would have equalled that of the greatest scholars, whether of -the ancient or the contemporary world. He was cut off, however, at the -early age of thirty-one. - -It is not unnatural to suppose that this circumstance, as well as the -rank of Pico, and the singular precocity of his talents, may have led to -a false or exaggerated estimate of his acquirements. But, even allowing -every reasonable deduction on this score, his claim must be freely -admitted to the character of one of the greatest wonders of his own or -any other age, whether he be considered as a linguist or as a general -scholar. - -Marvellous, however, as is the reputation of Pico della Mirandola, -perhaps the science of language owes more to a less brilliant but more -practical scholar of the same period, Teseo Ambrosio, of the family of -the Albonesi. He was born at Pavia, in 1469. His admirers have not failed -to chronicle such precocious indications of genius as his composing -Italian, Latin, and even Greek poetry, before he was fifteen; but he -himself confesses that his proficiency in these studies dates from a -considerably later time. He entered the order of Canons Regular of St. -Augustine, and fixed his residence at Rome, where he devoted himself with -great assiduity to Oriental studies, and acquired such a reputation, -that when, in the Lateran Council of 1512, the united Ethiopic and -Maronite Christians solicited the privilege of using their own peculiar -liturgies while they maintained the communion of the Roman church, it was -to him the task of examining those liturgies, and of ascertaining how -far their teaching was in accordance with the doctrines of the Church, -was entrusted by the Holy See. Teseo assures us that, at the time when -he received this commission, he knew little more than the elements -of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic. He set to work with the assistance of -a native Syrian (who, however, was entirely ignorant of Latin); and, -carrying on their communication by mutual instruction, he was soon able -not only to master the difficulties of these languages, but to set on -foot what may be regarded as (at least conjointly with the Complutensian -Polyglot) one of the earliest systematic schemes for the promotion of -Oriental studies. He had types cast expressly for his projects; and he -himself prepared the Chaldee Psalter for the press, and repaired to his -native city of Pavia for the purpose of having it printed. He died (1539) -before it was completed;[52] but his types were turned to account by -other scholars. It was with Teseo’s types that William Postel printed two -out of the five Pater Nosters contained in his collection—the Chaldee -and the Armenian.[53] And to him we owe a still greater boon—the first -regular attempt at a Polyglot Grammar; which, however imperfectly, -comprises the elements of Chaldee, Syriac, Armenian, and ten other -languages. - -The scholarship of Ambrogio was derived almost entirely from books. -His countryman, Antonio Pigafetta, enjoyed among his contemporaries a -different reputation, that of considerable skill as a speaker of foreign -languages, acquired during his extensive and protracted wanderings. -Pigafetta was born at Vicenza, towards the end of the fifteenth century. -In the expedition undertaken, under the patronage of Charles V., for the -conquest of the Moluccas, by the celebrated Fernando Magellan, the first -circumnavigator of the globe, one of the literary staff was Pigafetta, -who acted as historiographer of the expedition, and to whose narrative we -are indebted for all the particulars of it, which have been preserved. - -Marzari describes Pigafetta as a prodigy of learning; and, although this -has been questioned by later inquirers,[54] there is no reason to doubt -his acquirements in modern languages at least, and particularly his -skill and success in obtaining information as to the languages of the -countries which he visited. It is to him[55] we are indebted for the -first vocabularies of the language of the Philippine and Molucca islands, -the merit of which is recognized even by recent philologers.[56] - -It may be permitted to class with the linguists of Italy, a Corsican -scholar of the same period, Augustine, bishop of Nebia. It is difficult -to pronounce definitively as to the extent of his attainments; but his -skill in the ancient languages, at least, is sufficiently attested -by the polyglot Bible which he published, (containing the Hebrew, -Greek, Chaldee, and Arabic texts,) of which Sixtus of Sienna speaks -in the highest terms; and if we could receive without qualification -the statement of the same writer, we should conclude that Augustine’s -familiarity with modern languages was even more extensive. Sixtus of -Sienna describes him as “deeply versed in the languages of all the -nations which are scattered over the face of the earth.” - -Towards the close of the sixteenth century the study of languages -in Italy assumed that practical character in relation to the actual -exigencies of missionary life by which it has ever since been mainly -characterized in that country. The Oriental press established at Florence -by the Cardinal Ferdinand de Medici, under the superintendence of the -great orientalist Giambattista Raimondi;[57] the opening at Rome of -the College _De Propaganda Fide_; the foundation of the College of San -Pancrazio, for the Carmelite Oriental Missions in 1662; the opening of -similar Oriental schools in the Dominican, the Franciscan, Augustinian, -and other orders, for the training of candidates for their respective -missions in the East; and above all, the constant intercourse with -the Eastern missions which began to be maintained, gave an impulse to -Oriental studies, the more powerful and the more permanent, because it -was founded on motives of religion; and although we do not meet among -the missionary linguists that marvellous variety of languages which -excites our wonder, yet we find in them abundant evidences of a solid and -practical scholarship, whose fruits, if less attractive, are more useful -and more enduring. Nearly all the linguists of Italy from the close of -the sixteenth century, appear to have been either actually missionaries, -or connected with the colleges of the foreign mission. - -Thus, Antonio Giggei, one of the “Oblates of Mary,” taught Persian in -a missionary college, at Milan, and, at a later period, taught Arabic -in Florence. Giggei’s _Thesaurus Linguæ Arabicæ_,[58] is still much -esteemed. He wrote besides, a Grammar of Chaldee and of Rabbinical -Hebrew, which is still preserved in manuscript in the Ambrosian Library -at Milan; and his translation of a Rabbinical commentary on the -Proverbs of Solomon, published at Milan in 1620, is an evidence of his -familiarity, not only with Biblical Hebrew, but with the language of the -Talmud in all its successive phases. - -In like manner, Clemente Galani, the eminent Armenian scholar, spent -no less than twelve years as a missionary in Armenia. On his return to -Rome, in 1650, he was such a proficient in the language that he was able, -not only to write both in Armenian and Latin his well-known work on the -conformity of the creeds of the Armenian and Roman Churches,[59] but also -to deliver theological lectures to the Armenian students in Rome in their -native tongue.[60] - -Tommaso Ubicini was a Franciscan missionary in the Levant.[61] He was -born at Novara, and entered young into the order of Friar-minors. He -was named guardian of the Franciscan convent in Jerusalem; and, during -a residence of many years, made himself master, in addition to Hebrew -and Chaldee, of the Syriac, Arabic, and Coptic languages. The latter -years of his life were spent in the convent of San Pietro in Montorio -at Rome; where, besides publishing several works upon these languages, -be taught them to the students of his order. His great work, _Thesaurus -Arabico-Syro-Latinus_ was not published till 1636, several years after -his death.[62] - -Ludovico Maracci, best known to English readers by the copious use to -which Gibbon has turned his translation and annotations of the Koran, was -one of the missionary “Clerks of the Mother of God.” He was born at Lucca -in 1612, and first obtained notice by the share which he had in the Roman -edition of the Arabic Bible, published in 1671. He taught Arabic for many -years with great distinction in the University of the Sapienza at Rome. -But his best celebrity is due to his critical edition of the Koran, and -the admirable translation which accompanies it.[63] From this repertory -of Arabic learning, Sale has borrowed, almost without acknowledgment, or -rather with occasional depreciatory allusions, all that is most valuable -in his translation and notes. - -One of Maracci’s pupils, John Baptist Podestà, (born at Fazana early -in the 17th century), is another exception to the general rule. Having -perfected his Oriental studies in Constantinople, he was appointed -Oriental Secretary of the Emperor Leopold at Vienna, and attained -considerable reputation as Professor of Arabic in that university. He -published a Grammar of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish; which, however, was -severely, and, indeed, ferociously, criticised by his contemporary and -rival, Meninski. - -But Podestà’s contemporary, Paolo Piromalli, was trained in the school -of the Mission. He was a native of Calabria, and became a member of the -Dominican order. Piromalli was for many years attached to the Mission -of his order in Armenia, and was eminently successful in reconciling -the separated Armenians to the Roman Church, having even the happiness -to number among his converts the schismatical patriarch himself. From -Armenia, Piromalli passed into the Missions of Georgia and Persia. He -afterwards went, in the capacity of Apostolic Nuncio, to Poland, with -a commission of much importance to the Emperor from the Pope, Urban -VIII. In the course of one of his voyages he was made prisoner by the -Algerine corsairs, and carried as a slave to Tunis; but he was soon after -redeemed and called to Rome, whence, after he had been entrusted with the -revision of an Armenian Bible, he was sent back to the East, as Bishop -of Nachkivan in 1655. He remained in this charge for nine years, and was -called home as Bishop of Bisignano, where he died in 1667. Piromalli -published two dictionaries, Persian and Armenian, and several other works -upon these languages.[64] - -The Augustinian order in Italy, also, produced a linguist, not inferior -in solidity, and certainly superior in range of attainments, to any of -those hitherto enumerated—Antonio Agostino Giorgi.[65] He was born at -San Mauro, near Rimini, in 1711, and entered the Augustinian order at -Bologna; but Benedict XIV., who, during his occupancy of the see of -Bologna, had become acquainted with his merit, invited him to Rome after -his elevation to the Papacy, and appointed him to a professorship in -the Sapienza. Father Giorgi occupied this post with much distinction -for twenty-two years, till his death, in 1797. His acquirements as a -linguist were more various than those of any of the scholars hitherto -named. Besides modern languages, he knew not only Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, -Samaritan, and Syriac, but also Coptic and (what was at that period a -much more rare accomplishment) Tibetan. On the last named language he -compiled an elementary work for the use of missionaries, which, although -it is not free from inaccuracies, deserves, nevertheless, the highest -praise as a first essay in that till then untried language. - -Simon De Magistris, one of the priests of the Oratory, (born at Ferrara -in 1728) was for many years at the head of the Congregation of the -Oriental Liturgies in Rome. He was not only deeply versed in the written -languages of the East, but spoke the greater number of them with the same -ease and fluency as his native Italian.[66] - -Of the learned Dominican, Finetti, I am unable to offer any particulars. -His treatise “On the Hebrew and its cognate Languages” is a sufficient -evidence of his ability as an Orientalist; but it contains no indication -of anything beyond the learning which is acquired from books. - -The same may be said of the Oratorian, Valperga de Galuso. He was born at -Turin in 1737, but lived chiefly in the convents of his order at Naples, -Malta, and Rome. In addition, however, to his accomplishments as an -Orientalist, Padre de Galuso had the reputation of being one of the most -skilful mathematicians of his day. He died in 1815. - -Our information regarding the two De Rossi’s, Ignazio, author of the -_Etymologicum Copticum_, and Giambernardo, of Parma, is more detailed and -more satisfactory. - -Ignazio de Rossi was born at Viterbo in 1740, and entered the Jesuit -society at a very early age. In the schools of Macerata, Spoleto, and -Florence, he was employed in teaching the Humanities and Rhetoric until -the suppression of the order in 1773; after which event he repaired -to Rome, and received an appointment as professor of Hebrew in the -University, which he held for thirty years, rejoining his brethren, -however, at the first moment of their restoration under Pius VII. - -As a general scholar, Father De Rossi was one of the first men of his -day. His memory may be ranked among the most prodigious of which any -record has been preserved. On one occasion, during the _villeggiatura_ -at Frascati, it was tried by a test in some respects the most wonderful -which has ever been applied in such cases. A line being selected at -pleasure from any part of any one of the four great Italian classics, -Dante, Petrarca, Tasso, and Ariosto, De Rossi immediately repeated -the hundred lines _which followed next in order_ after that which had -been chosen; and, on his companions expressing their surprise at this -extraordinary feat (which he repeated several times), he placed the -climax to their amazement by reciting _in the reverse order_ the hundred -lines immediately _preceding_ any line taken at random from any one of -the above-named poets.[67] His reputation as an Orientalist was founded -chiefly upon his familiarity with Hebrew and the cognate languages. But -he was also a profound Coptic scholar; and it is a subject of regret to -many students of that language that his numerous MSS. connected therewith -have been suffered to remain so long unpublished. He died in 1824. - -Giovanni Bernardo de Rossi was a linguist of wider range. He was born -at Castel Nuovo, in Piedmont, in 1742, and in his youth was destined -for the ecclesiastical state. He began his collegiate studies at Turin, -and manifested very early that taste for Oriental literature which -distinguished his after life. Within six months after he commenced his -Hebrew studies, he produced a long Hebrew poem. In addition to the -Biblical Hebrew, he was soon master of the Rabbinical language, of -Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. He learned besides, by private study, most -of the languages of modern Europe;—his plan being to draw up in each a -compendious grammar for his own use. In this way he prepared grammars -of the German, English, and Russian languages. In 1769, he obtained an -appointment in the Royal Museum at Turin; but, being invited at the same -time to undertake the much more congenial office of Professor of Oriental -Languages in the new University of Parma, he gladly transferred himself -to that city, where he continued to reside, as Professor of Oriental -Literature, for more than forty years. During the latter half of this -period, De Rossi maintained a frequent correspondence with Mezzofanti, -upon the subject of their common studies.[68] From the terms in which -such a scholar as Mezzofanti speaks of De Rossi, and the deference with -which he appeals to his judgment, we may infer what his acquirements -must have been. On occasion of the marriage of the Infante of Parma, -Charles Emanuel, he published a polyglot epithalamium,[69]—a Collection -of Hymeneal Odes in various languages—which even still is regarded as -the most extraordinary of that class of compositions[70] ever produced -by a single individual. It does not belong to my present plan to allude -to the works of De Rossi, or to offer any estimate of his learning; but -without entering into any such particulars, or attempting to specify -the languages with which he was acquainted, it may safely be said that -no Italian linguist from the days of Pico della Mirandola can be -compared with him, either in the solidity or the extent of his linguistic -attainments. De Rossi died in 1831.[71] - -The fame of the linguists of Italy during the nineteenth century has been -so completely eclipsed by that of Mezzofanti, that I shall not venture -upon any enumeration of them, though the list would embrace such names as -Rossellini, Luzatto, Molza, Laureani, &c. There are few of whom it can be -said with so much truth as of Mezzofanti:— - - Prœgravat artes - Infra se positas. - - -§ III. SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE LINGUISTS. - -The catalogue of Spanish linguists opens with a name hardly less -marvellous than that which I have placed at the head of the linguists -of modern Italy—that of Fernando di Cordova;—one of those universal -geniuses, whom Nature, in the prodigal exercise of her creative powers, -occasionally produces, as if to display their extent and versatility. He -was born early in the fifteenth century, and was hardly less precocious -than his Italian rival, Pico della Mirandola. At ten years of age he -had completed his courses of grammar and rhetoric. He could recite -three or four pages of the Orations of Cicero after a single reading. -Before he attained his twenty-fifth year, he was installed Doctor in all -the faculties; and he is said by Feyjoo to have been thorough master -(supo con toda la perfeccion) of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and -Arabic. Feyjoo adds, that he knew, besides, all the principal European -languages.[72] He could repeat the entire Bible from memory. He was -profoundly versed in theology, in civil and canon law, in mathematics, -and in medicine. He had at his perfect command all the works of St. -Thomas, of Scotus, of Alexander of Hales, of Galen, Avicenna, and the -other lights of the age in every department of science.[73] Like the -Admirable Crichton, too, he was one of the most accomplished gentlemen -and most distinguished cavaliers of his time. He could play on every -known variety of instrument; he sang exquisitely; he was a most graceful -dancer; an expert swordsman; and a bold and skilful rider; and he was -master of one particular art of fence by which he was able to defeat all -his adversaries, by springing upon them at a single bound of twenty-three -or twenty-four feet! In a word, to adopt the enthusiastic panegyric of -the old chronicler on whose simple narrative these statements rest, “if -you could live a hundred years without eating or drinking, and were to -give the whole time to study, you could not learn all that this young -man knew.”[74] The occasion to which this writer, quoting Monstrelet’s -Chronicle,[75] refers was the Royal Fête at Paris in 1445; so that -Fernando must have been born about 1425. Of his later history but little -is known. He was sent as ambassador to Rome in 1469, and died in 1480. - -A Portuguese of the same period, Pedro de Covilham, is mentioned by -Damian a Goes in his curious book, _De Ethiopum Moribus_ in terms which, -if we could take them literally, should entitle him to a place among the -linguists. During the reign of John II. of Portugal (1481-95) Covilham, -who had already distinguished himself as an explorer under Alfonzo V., -was sent, in company with Alfonzo de Payva, in search of the kingdom -of Prester John, which the traditional notions of the time placed in -Abyssinia. Payva died upon the expedition. Covilham, after visiting -India, the Persian Gulf, and exploring both the coasts of the Red Sea, -at length reached Abyssinia, where he was received with much distinction -by the King. He married in the country, and obtained large possessions; -but, in accordance with a law of Abyssinia[76] similar to that which -still exists in Japan, prohibiting any one who may have once settled in -the country ever again to leave it, he was compelled to adopt Abyssinia -as a second home. When, therefore, he was recalled by John II., the King -of Abyssinia refused to relinquish him, pleading “_that he was skilled -in almost all the languages of men_,”[77] and that he had made to him, -as his own adopted subject, large grants of land and other possessions. -Covilham, after a residence of thirty-three years, was still alive in -1525, when the embassy under Alvarez de Lima reached Abyssinia. - -Very early in the sixteenth century, I find a notice of a Spanish convert -from Judaism, called in Latin “Libertas Cominetus” (_Libertas_ being, -in all probability, but the translation of his Hebrew patronymic,) -whose acquirements are more precisely defined. He was born at Cominedo, -towards the close of the fifteenth century, and renounced his creed -about 1525. His fellow-convert Galatinus, an Italian Jew, and himself -no mean linguist, describes Libertas in his work “_De Arcanis Catholicæ -Veritatis_,” as not only deeply versed in Holy Writ, but master of -fourteen languages.[78] The Biographical Dictionaries and other books of -reference are quite silent regarding him. - -The name of Benedict Arias Montanus, editor of the so-called “King of -Spain’s Polyglot Bible,” is better known to Biblical students. He was -born at Frexenal[79] in Estremadura in 1527 and studied in the university -of Alcala, then in the first freshness of the reputation which it owed -to the magnificence of the great Cardinal Ximenes. Montanus entered the -order of St. James, and after accompanying the Bishop of Segovia to the -Council of Trent, where he appeared with great distinction, returned -to the Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de los Angelos near Aracena, with -the intention of devoting himself entirely to study and prayer. From -this retreat, however, he was drawn by Philip II., who employed him -to edit a new Polyglot Bible on a more comprehensive plan than the -Complutensian Polyglot. On the completion of this task, Philip sought to -reward the learned editor by naming him to a bishopric; but Montanus -had humility and self-denial enough to decline the honour, and died an -humble chaplain, in 1598. The estimate formed by his contemporaries of -Montanus’s attainments in languages falls little short of the marvellous. -Le Mire describes him as _omnium fere gentium linguis et literis raro -exemplo excultus_; but we may more safely take his own modest statement -in the preface of his Polyglot, that he knew ten languages.[80] - -The celebrated Father Martin Del Rio, best known perhaps to English -readers, since Sir Walter Scott’s pleasant sketch, by his vast work on -Demonology, was also a very distinguished linguist. Del Rio, although of -Spanish parentage, was born at Antwerp in May 1551. His first university -studies were made at Paris; but he received the Doctor’s degree at -Salamanca, and has merited a place in Baillet’s _Enfans Celebres_, by -publishing an edition of Solinus, with a learned commentary, before he -was twenty years old.[81] Del Rio’s talents and reputation opened for him -a splendid career; but he abandoned all his offices and all his prospects -of preferment, in order to enter the Society of the Jesuits at Valladolid -in 1580. According to Feyjoo,[82] Del Rio knew ten languages; and Baillet -would appear to imply even more, when he says that he was master of _at -least_ that number. Del Rio died at Louvain in 1608. - -One of Del Rio’s most distinguished contemporaries, the celebrated -dramatic poet, Lope de Vega, although his celebrity rests upon a very -different foundation, was also a very respectable linguist, so far, at -least, as regards the modern languages. The extraordinary fecundity of -this author, especially when we consider his extremely chequered and -busy career as a secretary, a soldier, and eventually a priest, would -seem to preclude the possibility of his having applied himself to any -other pursuit than that of dramatic literature. The mere physical labour -of committing to paper (putting composition out of view altogether) -his _fifteen hundred_ versified plays,[83] three hundred interludes -and sacred dramas[84], ten epic poems, and eight prose novels, besides -an infinity of essays, prefaces, dedications, and other miscellaneous -pieces, would appear more than enough to occupy the very busiest human -life. Yet notwithstanding all this prodigious labour, Lope de Vega -contrived to find time for the acquisition of Greek, Latin, Italian, -Portuguese, French, and probably English! Well might Cervantes call him -“a Prodigy of Nature!” - -Although the missionaries of Spain and Portugal are, as a body, less -distinguished in the department of languages than those of Italy, yet -there are some among them not inferior to the most eminent of their -Italian brethren. The great Coptic and Abyssinian scholar, Antonio -Fernandez, was a Portuguese Jesuit. He was born at Lisbon in 1566, and -entered the Jesuit society as a member of the Portuguese province of -the order. After a long preparatory training, he was sent, in 1602, -to Goa, the great centre of the missionary activity of Portugal. His -ultimate destination, however, was Abyssinia, which country he reached -in 1604, in the disguise of an Armenian. He resided in Abyssinia for -nearly thirty years, and was charged with a mission to the Pope Paul -III. and Philip IV. of Spain, from the king, who, under the influence of -the missionaries, had embraced the Catholic religion. Fernandez set out -with some native companions in 1615; but they were all made prisoners -at Alaba, and narrowly escaped being put to death; nor was he released -in the end, except on condition of relinquishing this intended mission, -and returning to Abyssinia. On the death of the king, who had so long -protected them, the whole body of Catholic missionaries were expelled -from Abyssinia by the new monarch in 1632; and Fernandez returned, -after a most chequered and eventful career, to Goa, where he died, ten -years later, in 1642. Of his acquirements in the Western languages, I -am unable to discover any particulars, but he was thoroughly versed in -Armenian, Coptic, and Amharic or Abyssinian, in both of which last named -languages he has left several ritual and ascetic works for the use of the -missionaries and native children. - -The Spanish and Portuguese missionaries in America, too, (especially -those of the Jesuit order) rendered good service to the study of the -numerous native languages of both continents.[85] Most of the modern -learning on the subject is derived from their treatises, chiefly -manuscript, preserved by the Society. - -Nor were the other orders less efficient. Padre Josef Carabantes, a -Capuchin of the province of Aragon, (born in 1648) wrote a most valuable -practical treatise for the use of missionaries, which was long a text -book in their hands. - -One of the Portuguese missionaries in Abyssinia, Father Pedro Paez, who -succeeded Fernandez, and whose memory still lingers among the native -traditions of the people,[86] not only became thorough master of the -popular dialects of the various races of the Valley of the Nile, but -attained a proficiency in Gheez, the learned language of Abyssinia, not -equalled even by the natives themselves.[87] A Franciscan missionary -at Constantinople about the same time, mentioned by Cyril Lucaris, is -described by him as “acquainted with many languages;”[88] but I have not -been able to discover his name. - -By far the most eminent linguist of the Peninsula, however, is the -learned Jesuit, Father Lorenzo Hervas-y-Pandura. He was born in 1735, -of a noble family, at Horcajo, in la Mancha. Having entered the Jesuit -society, he taught philosophy for some years in Madrid, and afterwards in -a convent in Murcia; but at length, happily for the interests of science -as well as of religion, he embraced a missionary career, and remained -attached to the Jesuit mission of America, until 1767. On the suppression -of the order, Father Hervas settled at Cesena, and devoted himself to -his early philosophical studies, which, however, he ultimately, in a -great measure, relinquished in order to apply himself to literature and -especially to philology. When the members of the society were permitted -to re-establish themselves in Spain, Hervas went to Catalonia; but he was -obliged to return to Italy, and settled at Rome, where he was named by -Pius VII. keeper of the Vatican Library. In this honourable charge he -remained till his death in 1809. - -Father Hervas may with truth be pronounced one of the most meritorious -scholars of modern times. His works are exceedingly numerous; and, beside -his favourite pursuit, philology, embrace almost every other conceivable -subject, theology, mathematics, history, general and local, palæography; -not to speak of an extensive collection of works connected with the -order, which he edited, and a translation of Bercastel’s History of the -Church, (with a continuation), executed, if not by himself, at least -under his superintendence. Besides all the stupendous labour implied -in these diversified undertakings, Father Hervas has the still further -merit of having devoted himself to the subject of the instruction of the -deaf-mute, for whose use he devised a little series of publications, and -published a very valuable essay on the principles to be followed in their -instruction.[89] - -Our only present concern, however, is with his philological and -linguistic publications, especially in so far as they evince a knowledge -of languages. They form part of a great work in twenty-one 4to. volumes, -entitled _Idea dell’ Universo_; and were printed at intervals, at Cesena, -in Italian, from which language they were translated into Spanish by -his friends and associates, and republished in Spain. It will only be -necessary to particularize one or two of them—the _Saggio Prattico delle -Lingue_, which consists of a collection of the Lord’s Prayer in three -hundred and seven languages, together with other specimens of twenty-two -additional languages, in which the author was unable to obtain a version -of the Lord’s Prayer, all illustrated by grammatical analyses and -annotations; and the _Catalogo delle Lingue conosciute, e Notizia delle -loro Affinità e Diversità_.[90] In the compilation of these, and his -other collections, it is true, Hervas had the advantage, not alone of -his own extensive travel, and of his own laborious research, but also of -the aid of his brethren; and this in an Order which numbered among its -members, men to whose adventurous spirit every corner of the world had -been familiar:— - - “In Greenland’s icy mountains, - On India’s coral strand, - Where Afric’s sunny fountains - Roll down their golden sand.” - -But he, himself, compiled grammars of no less than eighteen of the -languages of America; which, with the liberality of true science, he -freely communicated to William von Humboldt for publication in the -_Mithridates_ of Adelung. He was a most refined classical scholar and a -profound Orientalist. He was perfectly familiar, besides, with almost -all the European languages; and, wide as is the range of tongues which -his published works embrace, his critical and grammatical notes and -observations, even upon the most obscure and least known of the languages -which they contain, although in many cases they have of course all the -imperfections of a first essay, exhibit, even in their occasional errors, -a vigorous and original mind. - -The name of Father Hervas-y-Pandura is a fitting close to the -distinguished line of linguistic “Glorias de España.” - - -§ IV. FRENCH LINGUISTS. - -The University of Paris did not enter into the study of languages so -early, or with so much zeal as the rival schools of Spain and Italy. - - * * * * * - -The first[91] great name in this department which we meet in the history -of French letters, is that of the celebrated Rabbinical scholar, William -Postel. This extraordinary man was born at Dolerie in 1510. Having lost -both his parents at a very early age, he was left entirely dependent -upon his own exertions for support; and, with that indomitable energy -which often accompanies the love of knowledge, he began, from his very -boyhood, a systematic course of self-denial, by which he hoped to realize -the means of prosecuting the studies for which he had conceived an early -predilection. Having scraped together, in the laborious and irksome -occupation of a school-master, what he regarded as a sufficient sum for -his modest wants, he repaired to Paris; but he had scarcely reached -that city, when he was robbed by some designing sharpers, of the fruits -of all his years of self-denial; and a long illness into which he was -thrown by the chagrin and privation which ensued, reduced him to the -last extremity. Even still, however, his spirit was unbroken. He went to -Beauce, where, by working as a daily labourer, he earned the means of -returning to Paris as a poor scholar. Presenting himself at the College -of Saint Barbara, he obtained a place as a servant, with permission to -attend the lectures; and having in some way got possession of a Hebrew -grammar, he contrived, in his stolen half hours of leisure, to master -the language so thoroughly, that in a short time his preceptors found -themselves outstripped by their singular dependent. - -His reputation as an Oriental scholar spread rapidly. When La Fôret’s -memorable embassy to the Sultan was being organized by Francis I., the -king was recommended to entrust to Postel a literary mission, somewhat -similar to that undertaken during the reign of Louis Philippe, at the -instance of M. de Villemain, one of the objects of which was to collect -Greek and Oriental MSS. It was on his return from this expedition, (in -which he visited Constantinople, Greece, Asia Minor, and part of Syria,) -that Postel met Teseo Ambrosio at Venice, and published what may be -said to have been the first systematic attempt as yet made to bring -together materials for the philosophical investigation of the science of -language—being a collection of the alphabets of twelve languages, with a -slight account of each among the number.[92] He was soon after appointed -Professor of Mathematics, and also of Oriental Languages, in the College -de France; but the wild and visionary character of his mind appears to -have been quite unsuited to any settled pursuit. He had conceived the -idea that he was divinely called to the mission of uniting all Christians -into one community, the head of which he recognized in Francis I. of -France, whom he maintained to be the lineal descendant of Sem, the eldest -of the sons of Noah. Under the notion that this was his pre-ordained -vocation, he refused to accompany La Fôret on a second mission to the -East, although he was pressed to do so by the king himself, and a sum -of four thousand crowns was placed at his disposal for the purchase of -manuscripts. He offered himself, in preference, to the newly founded -society of the Jesuits; but his unsuitableness for that state soon became -so apparent, that St. Ignatius of Loyola, then superior of the society, -refused to receive him. After many wanderings in France, Italy, and -Germany, and an imprisonment in Venice, (where his fanaticism reached its -greatest height,) he undertook a second expedition to the East, in 1549, -whence he returned in 1551, with a large number of valuable MSS. obtained -through the French ambassador, D’Aramont, but wilder and more visionary -than ever. He resumed his lectures in the College des Lombards, now the -property of the Irish College in Paris. The crowds who flocked to hear -him were so great, that they were obliged to assemble in the court, where -he addressed them from one of the windows. His subsequent career was a -strange alternation of successes and embroilments. The Emperor Ferdinand -invited him to Vienna, as Professor of Mathematics. While there, he -assisted Widmandstadt in the preparation of his Syriac New Testament. -He left Vienna, however, after a short residence, and betook himself to -Italy, in 1554 or 1555. He was put into prison in Rome, but liberated in -1557. In 1562 he returned to Paris. The extravagancies of his conduct -and his teaching led to his being placed under a kind of honourable -surveillance, in 1564, in the monastery of St. Martin des Champs, near -Paris. Yet so interesting was his conversation that crowds of the most -distinguished of all orders continued to visit him in this retreat till -his death in 1581. Postel’s attainments in languages living or dead, were -undoubtedly most extensive. Not reckoning the modern languages, which -he may be presumed to have known, his Introduction exhibits a certain -familiarity with not less than twelve languages, chiefly eastern; and he -is said to have been able to converse in most of the living languages -known in his time. Duret states, as a matter notorious to all the -learned, that he “knew, understood, and spoke fifteen languages;”[93] and -it was his own favourite boast, that he could traverse the entire world -without once calling in the aid of an interpreter. In addition to his -labours as a linguist, Postel was a most prolific writer. Fifty-seven of -his works are enumerated by his biographer. - -It is to this learned but eccentric scholar that we owe the idea -of the well-known polyglot collections of the Lord’s Prayer. These -compilations as carried out by later collectors, have rendered such -service to philology, that, although many of their authors were little -more than mere compilers, and have but slender claims to be considered -as linguists, in the higher sense of the word, it would be unpardonable -to pass them over without notice in a Memoir like the present. Towards -the close of the fourteenth century, a Hungarian soldier named John -Schildberger, while serving in a campaign against the Turks in Hungary, -was made prisoner by the enemy; and on his return home, after a captivity -of thirty-two years, published (in 1428) an account of his adventures. He -appended to his travels, as a specimen of the languages of the countries -in which he had sojourned, the Lord’s Prayer in Armenian, and also in -the Tartar tongue. This, however, was a mere traveller’s curiosity: -but Postel’s publication (Paris, 1558) is more scientific. It contains -specimens of the characters of twelve different languages, in five of -which—Chaldee, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and Armenian, the Pater Noster is -printed both in Roman characters and in those of the several languages. -This infant essay of Postel was followed, ten years after, by the -collection of Theodore Bibliander, (the classicized form of the German -name _Buchmann_,) which contains fourteen different Pater Nosters. Conrad -Gesner, in 1555, increased the number to twenty-two, to which Angelo -Rocea, an Augustinian Bishop, added three more (one of them Chinese) in -1591. Jerome Megiser, in 1592, extended the catalogue to forty. John -Baptist Gramaye, a professor in Louvain, made a still more considerable -stride in advance. He was taken prisoner by the Algerine corsairs, in the -beginning of the next century, and after his return to Europe, collected -no fewer than a hundred different versions of the Pater Noster, which he -published in 1622. But his work seems to have attracted little notice; -for more than forty years later, (1668) a collection made by Bishop -Wilkins, the learned linguist, to whom I shall hereafter return, contains -no more than fifty. - -In all these, however, the only object appears to have been to collect -as large a number of languages as possible, without any attention to -critical arrangement. But, in the latter part of the same century, -the collection of Andrew Müller (which comprises eighty-three Pater -Nosters) exhibits a considerable advance in this particular. Men began, -too, to arrange and classify the various families. Francis Junius -(Van der Yonghe) published the Lord’s Prayer in nineteen different -languages of the German family; and Nicholas Witsen devoted himself to -the languages of Northern Asia—the great Siberian family,—in eleven -of which he published the Lord’s Prayer in 1692. This improvement in -scientific arrangement, however, was not universal; for although the -great collection of John Chamberlayne and David Wilkins, printed at -Amsterdam in 1715, contains the Lord’s Prayer in a hundred and fifty-two -languages, and that of Christian Frederic Gesner—the well-known -_Orientalischer und Occidentalischer Sprachmeister_ (Leipzic 1748)—in -two hundred, they are both equally compiled upon the old plan, and have -little value except as mere specimens of the various languages which they -contain.[94] - -It is not so with a collection already described, which was published -near the close of the same century, by a learned Spanish Jesuit, -Don Lorenzo Hervas y Pandura. It is but one of that vast variety of -philological works from the same prolific pen which, as I have stated, -appeared, year after year, in Cesena, originally in Italian, though they -were all afterwards published in a Spanish translation, in the author’s -native country. Father Hervas’s collection, it will be remembered, -contains the Lord’s Prayer in no less than _three hundred and seven_ -languages, besides hymns and other prayers in twenty-two additional -dialects, in which the author was not able to find the Pater Noster. - -Almost at the very same time with this important publication of Hervas, -a more extensive philological work made its appearance in the extreme -north, under the patronage and indeed the direct inspiration, of the -Empress Catherine II. of Russia. The plan of this compilation was more -comprehensive than that of the collections of the Lord’s Prayer. It -consisted of a Vocabulary of two hundred and seventy-three familiar and -ordinary words, in part selected by the Empress herself, and drawn up -in her own hand. This Vocabulary, which is very judiciously chosen, is -translated into two hundred and one languages. The compilation of this -vast comparative catalogue of words was entrusted to the celebrated -philologer, Pallas, assisted by all the eminent scholars of the northern -capital; among whom the most efficient seems to have been Bakmeister, the -Librarian of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg. The opportunities -afforded by the patronage of a sovereign who held at her disposition the -services of the functionaries of a vast, and, in the literal sense of -the word, a polyglot empire like Russia, were turned to the best account. -Languages entirely beyond the reach of private research, were unlocked -at her command; and the rude and hitherto almost unnamed dialects of -Siberia, of Northern Asia, of the Halieutian islanders, and the nomadic -tribes of the Arctic shores, find a place in this monster vocabulary, -beside the more polished tongues of Europe and the East. Nevertheless, -the Vocabulary of Pallas (probably from the circumstance of its being -printed altogether in the Russian character)[95] is but little familiar -to our philologers, and is chiefly known from the valuable materials -which it supplied to Adelung and his colleagues in the compilation of the -well-known _Mithridates_. - -The _Mithridates_ of Adelung closes this long series of philological -collections; but although in its general plan, it is only an expansion -of the original idea of the first simple traveller who presented to his -countrymen, as specimens of the languages of the countries which he had -visited, versions in each language of the Prayer which is most familiar -to every Christian, yet it is not only far more extensive in its range -than any of its predecessors, but also infinitely more philosophical -in its method. There can be no doubt that the selection of a prayer so -idiomatical, and so constrained in its form as the Lord’s Prayer, was far -from judicious. As a specimen of the structure of the various languages, -the choice of it was singularly infelicitous; and the utter disregard of -the principles of criticism (and in truth of everything beyond the mere -multiplication of specimens), which marks all the early collections, is -an additional aggravation of its original defect. But it is not so in the -_Mithridates_ of Adelung. It retains the Lord’s Prayer, it is true, like -the rest, as the specimen (although not the only one) of each language; -but it abandons the unscientific arrangement of the older collections, -the languages being distributed into groups according to their -ethnographical affinities. The versions, too, are much more carefully -made; they are accompanied by notes and critical illustrations; and in -general, each language or dialect, with the literature bearing upon it, -is minutely and elaborately described. In a word, the _Mithridates_, -although, as might be expected, still falling far short of perfection, is -a strictly philosophical contribution to the study of ethnography; and -has formed the basis, as well as the text, of the researches of all the -masters in the modern schools of comparative philology.[96] - -To return, however, to the personal history of linguists, from which we -have been called aside by the mention of the work of Postel. - -A celebrity as a linguist equally distinguished, and even more unamiable, -than Postel’s, is that of his countryman and contemporary, the younger of -the two Scaligers. - -Joseph Justus Scaliger was born at Agen in 1544, and made his school -studies at Bordeaux, where he was only remarkable for his exceeding -dulness, having spent three years in a fruitless, though painfully -laborious, attempt to master the first rudiments of the Latin language. -These clouds of the morning, however, were but the prelude of a brilliant -day. His after successes were proportionately rapid and complete. The -stories which are told of him seem almost legendary. He is said to have -read the entire Iliad and Odyssey in twenty-one days, and to have run -through the Greek dramatists and lyric poets in four months. He was but -seventeen years old when he produced his Œdipus. At the same age he was -able to speak Hebrew with all the fluency of a Rabbi. His application -to study was unremitting, and his powers of endurance are described as -beyond all example. He himself tells, that even in the darkness of the -night, when he awoke from his brief slumbers, he was able to read without -lighting his lamp![97] So powerful, according to his own account, was -his eye-sight, that like the knight of Deloraine:— - - “Alike to him was tide and time, - Moonless midnight, and matin prime!” - -After a brilliant career at Paris, he was invited to occupy the chair -of Belles Lettres at Leyden, where the best part of his life was spent. -Like most eminent linguists, Scaliger possessed the faculty of memory in -an extraordinary degree. He could repeat eighty couplets of poetry after -a single reading: he knew by heart every line of his own compositions, -and it was said of him that he never forgot anything which he had learnt -once. But with all his gifts and all his accomplishments, he contrived -to render himself an object of general dislike, or at least of general -dis-esteem. His vanity was insufferable; and it was of that peculiarly -offensive kind which is only gratified at the expense of the depreciation -of others. His life was a series of literary quarrels; and in the whole -annals of literary polemics, there are none with which, for acrimony, -virulence, and ferocity of vituperation, these quarrels may not compete. -And hence, although there is hardly a subject, literary, antiquarian, -philological, or critical, on which he has not written, and (for his -age) written well, there are few, nevertheless, who have exercised less -influence upon contemporary opinion. Scaliger spoke thirteen languages, -in the study of which Baillet[98] says he never used either a dictionary -or a grammar. He himself declares the same. The languages ascribed to him -are strangely jumbled together in the following lines of Du Bartas:— - - —————“Scaliger, merveille de notre age, - Soleil des savants, qui parle elegamment - Hebreu, Greçois, Romain, Espagnol, Allemand, - François, Italien, Nubien, Arabique, - Syriaque, Persian, Anglois, Chaldaique.”[99] - -In his case it is difficult, as in most others, to ascertain the degree -of his familiarity with each of these. To Du Bartas’s poetical epithet, -_elegamment_, of course, no importance is to be attached; and it would -perhaps be equally unsafe to rely on the depreciatory representations -of his literary antagonists. One thing, at least, is certain, that he -himself made the most of his accomplishment. He was not the man to hide -his light from any overweening delicacy. He was one of the greatest -boasters of his own or any other time. In one place he boasts that there -is no language in which he could write with such elegance as Arabic.[100] -In another he professes to write Syriac as well as the Syrians -themselves.[101] And it is curiously significant of the reputation which -he commonly enjoyed, that the wits of his own day used to say that there -was one particular department of each language in which there could be no -doubt of his powers—its Billingsgate vocabulary! There was not one, they -confessed, of the thirteen languages to which he laid claim, in which he -was not fully qualified to scold![102] - -The eminent botanist, Charles Le Cluse, (Clusius), a contemporary of -Scaliger, can hardly be called a great linguist, as his studies were -chiefly confined to the modern European languages, with several of which -he was thoroughly conversant; but he is remarkable as having contributed, -by a familiarity with modern languages very rare among the naturalists of -his day, to settle the comparative popular nomenclature of his science. -He is even still a high authority on this curious branch of botanical -study. - -The reader who remembers the extraordinary reputation enjoyed among his -contemporaries by the learned Nicholas Peiresc, may be disappointed at -finding him overlooked in this enumeration: but, as of his extraordinary -erudition he has left no permanent fruit in literature, so of his -acquirements as a linguist no authentic record has been preserved. The -same is true of his friend, Galaup de Chasteuil, a less showy, perhaps, -but better read orientalist. Through devotion to these studies, quite -as much as under the influence of religious feeling, Chasteuil made a -pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and, in 1631, permanently fixed his abode -in Palestine; and so thoroughly conversant did he become, not only with -the language and literature, but also with the manners, usages and -feelings of the Maronites of the Lebanon, that, on the death of their -patriarch, despite the national predilections by which all Easterns are -characterized, they desired to elect him, a Western as he was, head of -their national church.[103] Lewis de Dieu, the two Morins—Stephen, the -Calvinist minister, and John, the learned Oratorian convert—the two -Cappels, Lewis and James, and even the celebrated D’Herbelot, author of -the _Bibliothèque Orientale_, all belong rather to the class of oriental -scholars than of linguists in the popular acceptation of the word. The -two Cappels, as well as their adversaries, the Buxtorfs, are best known -in connexion with the controversy about the Masoretic Points. - -One of the writers named in a previous page, Claude Duret, although -Adelung[104] could not discover any particulars regarding him, beyond -those which are detailed in the title of his book, (where he is merely -described as “Bourbonnais, President a Moulins,”) nevertheless deserves -very special mention on account of the extensive and curious learning, -not alone in languages, but also in general literature, history and -science, which characterize his rare work, _Thresor de l’Histoire des -Langues de cet Univers_.[105] This work is undoubtedly far from being -exempt from grave inaccuracies; but it is nevertheless, for its age, -a marvel, as well of curious learning and extensive research, as of -acquaintance with a great many (according to one account, seventeen,) -languages, both of the East and of the West.[106] How much of this, -however, is mere book-scholarship, and how much is real familiarity, it -is impossible, in the absence of all details of the writer’s personal -history, to decide. - -Although far from being so universal a linguist as Duret, the great -biblical scholar, Samuel Bochart (born at Rouen in 1599) was much -superior to him in his knowledge of Hebrew and the cognate languages, -Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and even Coptic. His _Hierozoicon_ and -_Geographia Sacra_, as monuments of philological as well as antiquarian -knowledge, have maintained a high reputation even to the present time, -notwithstanding the advantages enjoyed by modern students of biblical -antiquities and history.[107] - -Bochart’s pupil and his friend in early life, (although they were -bitterly alienated from each other at a later period, and although -Bochart’s death is painfully associated with their literary quarrel[108]) -the celebrated Peter Daniel Huet, can hardly deserve a place in the -catalogue of French linguists; but he was at least a liberal and -enlightened patron of the study. - -Many of the French missionaries of the seventeenth century would deserve -a place in this series, and among them especially Francis Picquet, who, -after serving for several years as French consul at Aleppo, embraced a -missionary life, and at last was consecrated Archbishop of Bagdad in -1674. Le Jay, the projector and editor of the well-known polyglot Bible -which appeared in France a few years before the rival publication of -Brian Walton, though he is often spoken of as the mere patron of the -undertaking, was in reality a very profound and accomplished Orientalist. -The same may be said of Rapheleng, the son-in-law of Plantin, and often -described as his mere assistant in the publication of the King of -Spain’s Polyglot Bible. Matthew Veysiere de la Croze, too, the apostate -Benedictine, although a superficial scholar and a hasty and inaccurate -historian, was a very able linguist. - -But, as we descend lower in the history of this generation of French -linguists, we find comparatively few names which, for variety of -attainments, can be compared with those of Italy or Germany. Beyond the -cultivation of the Biblical languages, little was done in France for this -department of study during the rest of the seventeenth century. There -seems but too much reason to believe that the reputation of the learned -but pedantic Menage as a linguist, is extravagantly exaggerated. He was -an accomplished classicist, and his acquaintance with modern languages -was tolerably extensive. He was a good etymologist, too, according -to the servile and unscientific system of the age. But his claims to -Oriental scholarship appear very questionable. And in truth during this -entire period, if it were not for the interest of the controversy above -referred to, on the antiquity and authority of the Masoretic Points, -it might almost be said that Oriental studies had fallen entirely into -disuse in France. Even of those who took a part in that discussion, the -name of Masclef (who knew Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, and Arabic, -with perhaps some of the modern languages) is the only one which can -approach the rank of the higher masters of the study. The three Buxtorfs -(father, son, and grandson), Guarin, and even Girandeau, were mere -Hebraists; patient and accurate scholars, it is true, but with few of the -characteristics of an eminent linguist. La Bletterie can hardly claim -even this qualified reputation. - -There is one brilliant exception—the eminent historian and -controversialist, Eusebius Renaudot. He was born at Paris in 1646. Having -made his classical studies under the Jesuits, and those of Philosophy in -the College d’Harcourt, he entered the congregation of the Oratory. But -he very soon quitted that society; and, although he continued to wear the -ecclesiastical dress, he never took holy orders. His life, however, was -a model of piety and of every Christian virtue; and it was his peculiar -merit that, while many of his closest friends and most intimate literary -allies were members of the Jansenist party, Renaudot was inflexible -in his devotion to the judgment of the Holy See. His first linguistic -studies lay among the Oriental languages, the rich fruit of which we -still possess in his invaluable Collection of Oriental Liturgies, and in -the last two volumes of the _Perpetuitè de la Foi sur l’Eucharistie_, -which are also from his prolific pen. But he soon extended his researches -into other fields; and he is said to have been master of seventeen -languages,[109] the major part of which he spoke with ease and fluency. - -But Renaudot stands almost alone.[110] The only names which may claim to -be placed in comparison with his, are those of the two Petis, François -Petis, and François Petis de la Croix. The latter especially, who -succeeded his father as royal Oriental interpreter, under Lewis XIV., and -made several expeditions to the East in this capacity, was well versed, -not only in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Tartar, but also in Coptic and -Armenian. His translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments is the -work by which he is best known; but his dissertations and collections on -Oriental history are full of valuable learning. The eighteenth century -in France was a period of greater activity. Etienne Fourmont, although -born in 1683, belongs properly to the eighteenth century. He is often -cited as an example of extraordinary powers of memory, having, when a -mere boy, learnt by rote the whole list of Greek Roots in the Port Royal -Treatise, so as to repeat them in every conceivable order. He soon after -published in French verse all the roots of the Latin language. But it is -as an Orientalist that he is chiefly remarkable. He was appointed to the -chair of Arabic in the College Royal, and also to the office of Oriental -interpreter in the Bibliothèque du Roi; and soon established such a -reputation as an Orientalist, that he was consulted on philological -questions by the learned of every country in Europe. He was thoroughly -master of Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Persian, and was one of the -first French scholars who, without having visited China,[111] attained to -any notable proficiency in Chinese. - -His nephew, Michael Angelo Deshauterayes, born at Conflans Ste. Honorine, -near Pontoise, 1724, was even more precocious. At the age of ten, he -commenced his studies under Fourmont’s superintendence. He thus became -familiar at an early age with Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Chinese; so -that in his twenty-second year he was appointed to succeed his uncle as -Oriental Interpreter to the Royal Library, to which post, a few years -later, was added the Arabic professorship in the College de France. In -these employments he devoted himself to Oriental studies for above thirty -years. - -Another pupil of Fourmont, Joseph de Guignes, born at Pontoise in 1721, -attained equal eminence as an Orientalist. At Fourmont’s death, he -was associated with the last named linguist on the staff of the Royal -Library. But De Guignes’ merit in the department of Oriental history and -antiquities, has almost overshadowed his reputation as a mere linguist, -although he was a proficient in all the principal Eastern languages, and -in many of those of Europe. His History of the Huns, Turks, Moguls, and -other Tartar nations, notwithstanding that many of its views are now -discarded, is still regarded as a repertory of Oriental learning; and, -while both in this and also in some others of his works, De Guignes is -often visionary and even paradoxical,[112] he is acknowledged to have -done more for Chinese literature in France, than any linguist before Abel -Remusat; nor is there one of the scholars of the eighteenth century, who -in the spirit, if not in the letter, of the views which he put forward, -comes so near to the more enlarged and more judicious theories of the -scholars of our own day, on the general questions of philology. - -From the days of De Guignes the higher departments of linguistic science -fell for a time into disrepute in France; but a powerful impulse -was given to the practical cultivation of Oriental languages by the -diplomatic relations of that kingdom with Constantinople and the Levant. -The official appointments connected with that service served to supply -at once a stimulus to the study and an opportunity for its practice. -Cardonne, Ruffin,[113] Legrand, Kieffer, Venture de Paradis, and Langlés, -were all either trained in that school, or devoted themselves to the -study as a preparation for it. - -Of these, perhaps John Michael Venture De Paradis is the most remarkable. -His father had been French Consul in the Crimea, and in various cities -of the Levant, and appears to have educated the boy with a special -view to the Oriental diplomatic service. From the College de Louis le -Grand, he was transferred, at the age of fifteen, to Constantinople, -and, before he had completed his twenty-second year, he was appointed -interpreter of the French embassy in Syria. Thence he passed into -Egypt in the same capacity, and, in 1777, accompanied Baron de Tott in -his tour of inspection of the French establishments in the Levant. He -was sent afterwards to Tunis, to Constantinople, and to Algiers; and -eventually was attached to the ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, with -the Professorship of Oriental Languages. His last service was in the -memorable Egyptian expedition under Bonaparte, in which he fell a victim -to fatigue, and the evil effects of the climate, in 1799.[114] - -Lewis Matthew Langlés[115] was a Picard, born at Peronne, in 1763. From -his boyhood he too was destined for the diplomatic service; and studied -first at Montdidier, and afterwards in Paris, where he obtained an -employment which afforded him considerable leisure for the pursuit of -his favourite studies. He learned Arabic under Caussin de Perceval, and -Persian under Ruffin. Soon afterwards, however, he engaged in the study -of Mantchu, and in some time became such a proficient in that language, -that he was entrusted with the task of editing the Mantchu Dictionary -of Pere Amiot. From that time his reputation was established, at least -with the general public. His subsequent publications in every department -of languages are numerous beyond all precedent. He had the reputation -of knowing, besides the learned languages, Chinese, Tartar, Japanese, -Sanscrit, Malay, Armenian, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. But it must be -added that the solidity of these attainments has been gravely impeached, -and that by many he is regarded more as a charlatan than as a scholar. - -No such cloud hangs over the fame of, after De Guignes, the true reviver -of Chinese literature, Abel Remusat.[116] He was born at Paris in 1788, -and brought up to the medical profession; and it may almost be said that -the only time devoted by him to his early linguistic studies was stolen -from the laborious preparation for the less congenial career to which -he was destined by his father. By a very unusual preference, he applied -himself, almost from the first, to the Chinese and Tartar languages. Too -poor to afford the expensive luxury of a Chinese dictionary, he compiled, -with incredible labour, a vocabulary for his own use; and the interest -created at once by the success of his studies, and by the unexampled -devotedness with which they were pursued, were so great as to procure -for him, at the unanimous instance of the Academy of Inscriptions, the -favour, at that period rare and difficult, of exemption from the chances -of military conscription. From that time forward he applied himself -unremittingly to philological pursuits; and, although he was admitted -doctor of the faculty of medicine, at Paris in 1813, he never appears to -have practised actively in the profession. On the creation of the two -new chairs of Chinese and Sanscrit, in the College de France, after the -Restoration, Remusat was appointed to the former, in November, 1814; -from which period he gave himself up entirely to literature. He was -speedily admitted into all the learned societies both of Paris and of -other countries; and in 1818 he became one of the editors of the _Journal -des Savans_. On the establishment (in which he had a chief part,) of the -Société Asiatique, in 1822, he was named its perpetual secretary; and, -on the death of Langlés, in 1824, he succeeded to the charge of keeper -of Oriental MSS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi. This office he continued to -hold till his early and universally lamented death in 1832. Remusat’s -eminence lay more in the depth and accuracy of his scholarship in -the one great branch of Oriental languages, which he selected as his -own—those of Eastern Asia—and in the profoundly philosophical spirit -which he brought to the investigation of the relations of these languages -to each other, and to the other great families of the earth, than in the -numerical extent of his acquaintance with particular languages. But this, -too, was such as to place him in the very first rank of linguists. - -A few words must suffice for the French school since Remusat, although it -has held a very distinguished place in philological science. The Société -Asiatique, founded at Remusat’s instance, and for many years directed -by him as secretary, has not only produced many eminent individual -philologers, as De Sacy, Quatremere, Champollion, Renan, Fresnel, and -De Merian; but, what is far more important, it has successfully carried -out a systematic scheme of investigation, by which alone it is possible, -in so vast a subject, to arrive at satisfactory results. M. Stanislas -Julien’s researches in Chinese; M. Dulaurier’s in the Malay languages; -Father Marcoux’s in the American Indian; Eugene Bournouf’s in those of -Persia; the brothers Antoine and Arnauld d’Abbadie in the languages of -East Africa, and especially in the hitherto almost unknown Abyssinian -and Ethiopian families; Eugene Borè in Armenian;[117] M. Fresnel’s -explorations among the tribes of the western shores of the Red Sea; and -many similar successful investigations of particular departments, are -contributing to lay up such a body of facts, as cannot fail to afford -sure and reliable data for the scientific solution by the philologers -of the coming generation, of those great problems in the science of -language, on which their fathers could only speculate as a theory, and -at the best could but address themselves in conjecture. Although I have -no intention of entering into the subject of living French linguists, -yet there is one of the gentlemen whom I have mentioned, M. Fulgence -Fresnel, whom I cannot refrain from alluding to before I pass from -the subject of French philology. His name is probably familiar to the -public at large, in connexion with the explorations of the French at -Nineveh; but he is long known to the readers of the Journal Asiatique -as a linguist not unworthy of the very highest rank in that branch of -scholarship. M. d’Abbadie,[118] himself a most accomplished linguist, -informed me that M. Fresnel, although exceedingly modest on the subject -of his attainments, has the reputation of knowing twenty languages. The -facility with which he has acquired some of these languages almost rivals -the fame of Mezzofanti. M. Arago having suggested on one occasion the -desirableness of a French translation of Berzelius’s Swedish Treatise -“On the Blow-pipe,” Fresnel at once set about learning Swedish, and in -three months had completed the desired translation! He reads fluently -Hebrew, Greek, Romaic, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and -what little is known of the Hieroglyphical language. He is second only -to Lane as an Arabic scholar. Among the less known languages of which M. -Fresnel is master, M. d’Abbadie heard him speak a few sentences of one, -of which he may be said to have himself been the discoverer, and which -is, in some respects, completely anomalous. M. Fresnel describes this -curious language in the Journal Asiatique, July, 1838. It is spoken by -the savages of Mahrak; and as it is not reducible to any of the three -families, the Aramaic, the Canaanitic, or the Arabic, of which, according -to Gesenius, the Ethiopic is an elder branch, M. Fresnel believes it to -be the very language spoken by the Queen of Saba! Its present seat is in -the mountainous district of Hhacik, Mirbât, and Zhafâr. Its most singular -characteristic consists in its articulations, which are exceedingly -difficult and most peculiar. Besides all the nasal sounds of the French -and Portuguese, and that described as the “sputtered sound” of the -Amharic, this strange tongue has three articulations, which can only be -enunciated with _the right side of the mouth_; and the act of uttering -them produces a contortion which destroys the symmetry of the features! -M. Fresnel describes it as “horrible, both to hear and to see spoken.” -Endeavouring to represent the force of one of these sounds by the letters -_hh_, he calls the language _Ehhkili_.[119] - - -§ V. LINGUISTS OF THE TEUTONIC RACE.[120] - -If we abstract from the Sacred Languages, the German scholars were slow -in turning themselves to Oriental studies. - -John Müller, of Königsberg, commonly known as Regiomontanus, although he -had the highest repute for learning of all the German scholars of the -fifteenth century, does not appear to have gone beyond the classical -languages. Martin Luther, Reuchlin,[121] Ulrich Van Hutten, Hoogenstraet, -were Hebraists and no more; and John Widmanstadt, when he wished to study -Arabic, was forced to make a voyage to Spain expressly for the purpose. - - * * * * * - -The first student of German race at all distinguished by scholarship in -languages, was Theodore Bibliander,[122] who, besides Greek and Hebrew, -was also well versed in Arabic, and probably in many other Oriental -tongues.[123] The celebrated naturalist, Conrad Gesner, though perhaps -not so solidly versed as Bibliander, in any one language, appears to have -possessed a certain acquaintance with a greater number. His _Mithridates; -de Differentiis Linguarum_,[124] resembles in plan as well as in name, -the great work of Adelung. The number and variety of the languages which -it comprises is extraordinary for the period. It contains the Pater -Noster in twenty-two of these; and, although the observations on many of -the specimens are exceedingly brief and unsatisfactory, yet they often -exhibit much curious learning, and no mean familiarity with the language -to which they belong.[125] Gesner’s success as a linguist is the more -remarkable, inasmuch as that study by no means formed his principal -pursuit. Botany and Natural History might much better be called the real -business of his literary life. Accordingly, Beza says of him, that he -united in his person the very opposite genius of Varro and Pliny; and, -although he died at the comparatively early age of forty-nine, his works -on Natural History fill nearly a dozen folio volumes. Both Gesner and -Bibliander fell victims, one in 1564, the other in 1565, to the great -plague of the sixteenth century. - -Jerome Megiser, who, towards the close of the same century compiled the -more extensive polyglot collection of Pater Nosters already referred to, -need scarcely be noticed. He is described by Adelung,[126] as a man of -various, but trivial and superficial learning. - -Not so another German scholar of the same age, Jacob Christmann, of -Maintz. Christmann was no less distinguished as a philosopher than as a -linguist. He held for many years at Heidelberg the seemingly incompatible -professorships of Hebrew, Arabic, and Logic, and is described as -deeply versed in all the ancient and modern languages, as well as in -mathematical and astronomical science.[127] - -It would be unjust to overlook the scholars of the Low Countries during -the same period. Some of these, as for example, Drusius, and the three -Schultens, father, son, and grandson, were chiefly remarkable as -Hebraists. But there are many others, both of the Belgian and the Dutch -schools, whose scholarship was of a very high order. Among the former, -Andrew Maes (Masius,) deserves a very special notice. He was born in -1536, at Linnich in the diocese of Courtrai. In 1553 he was sent to -Rome as chargé d’affaires. During his residence there, in addition to -Greek, Latin, Spanish, and other European languages, with which he was -already familiar, he made himself master, not only of Italian, but also -of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac. He is said[128] to have assisted Arias -Montanus in the compilation of his Polyglot Bible; but of this no mention -is made by Montanus in the preface. No doubt, however, can be entertained -of his great capacity as an Orientalist; and Sebastian Munster used to -say of him that he seemed to have been brought up among the Hebrews, and -to have lived in the classic days of the Roman Empire. About the same -period, or a few years later, David Haecx published his dictionary of the -Malay languages, one of the earliest contributions to the study of that -curious family. Haecx, though he spent his life in Rome, was a native of -Antwerp. - -John Baptist Gramaye, already named as a collector of Pater Nosters, -acquired some reputation as one of the first contributors to the history -of the languages of Africa, although his work is described by Adelung as -very inaccurate. Gramaye was a native of Antwerp, and became provost of -Arnheim and historiographer of the Low Countries. On a voyage from Italy -to Spain, he fell into the hands of Algerine corsairs, who carried him to -Algiers. There he was sold as a slave, and was detained a considerable -time in Barbary. Having at length obtained his liberty, he published, -after his return, a diary of his captivity, a descriptive history of -Africa, and a polyglot collection of Pater Nosters, among which are -several African languages not previously known in Europe.[129] Very -little, however, is known of his own personal acquirements, which are -noticeable, perhaps, rather on account of their unusual character, than -of their great extent or variety. - -Some of the linguists of Holland may claim a higher rank. The well-known -Arabic scholar, Erpenius, (Thomas Van Erpen,) was also acquainted with -several other Oriental languages, Hebrew, Chaldee, Persian, Turkish, and -Ethiopic. His countryman and successor in the chair of Oriental languages -at Leyden, James Golius, was hardly less distinguished. Peter Golius, -brother of James, who entered the Carmelite Order and spent many years -as a missionary in Syria and other parts of the East, became equally -celebrated in Rome for his Oriental scholarship. In all these three cases -the knowledge of the languages was not a mere knowledge of books, but had -been acquired by actual travel and research in the various countries of -the East. - -John Henry Hottinger, too, a pupil of James Golius at Leyden, and the -learned Jesuit, Father Athanasius Kircher, belong also to this period. -The latter, who is well known for his varied and extensive attainments -in every department of science, was moreover a linguist of no ordinary -merit.[130] He was born at Geyzen, near Fulda, in 1602, and entered the -Jesuit society in 1618, when only sixteen years old. No detailed account -is given by his biographers (with whom languages were of minor interest,) -of the exact extent of his attainments in the department of languages; -but they were both diversified and respectable, and in some things he was -far beyond the men of his own time. His _Lingua Egyptiaca Restituta_ may -still be consulted with advantage by the student of Coptic. - -Most of these men, however, confined themselves chiefly to one particular -department. The first really universal linguist of Germany is the great -Ethiopic scholar, Job Ludolf, who was born at Erfurt, in 1624. Early in -life he devoted himself to the study of languages; and his extensive -travels—first as preceptor to the sons of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, -and afterwards as tutor to the children of the Swedish ambassador in -Paris—coupled with his unexampled industry,[131] enabled him, not only to -hold a high rank in history and general literature, but also to attain to -a success as a linguist which had rarely been equalled before his time. -He is said to have been master of twenty-five languages,[132] but as I -have never seen any exact enumeration of them, I am inclined to allow for -considerable exaggeration. - -There is even more reason to suspect of exaggeration the popular accounts -which have come down to us of a self-educated linguist of the same -period—a Saxon peasant called Nicholas Schmid, more commonly known as -Cüntzel of Rothenacker, from the name of the village where he was born, -in 1606. This extraordinary man was the son of a peasant. His youth -was entirely neglected. He worked as a common labourer on his father’s -farm, and, until his sixteenth year, never had learned even the letters -of the alphabet. At this age one of the farm-servants taught him to -read, greatly to the dissatisfaction of his father, who feared that such -studies would withdraw him from his work. Soon afterwards, a relative who -was a notary, gave him a few lessons in Latin; and, under the direction -of the same relative, he learned the rudiments of Greek, Hebrew, and -other languages. During all this time, he continued his daily occupation -as a farm-labourer, and had no time for his studies but what he was able -to steal from the hours allotted for sleep and for meals; the latter of -which he snatched in the most hurried manner, and always with an open -book by his side. In this strange way, amid the toils of the field and -of the farm-yard, Schmid is said to have acquired a store of knowledge -the details of which border upon the marvelous, one of his recorded -performances being a translation of the Lord’s Prayer into fifty-one -languages![133] - -One of the scholars engaged in the compilation of Walton’s Polyglot, -Andrew Müller, has left a reputation less marvellous, but more solid. -He was born about 1630, at Greiffenhagen in Pomerania. Müller, like -Crichton, was a precocious genius. At eighteen he wrote verses freely in -Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. On the completion of his studies, he became -pastor of Königsberg on the Warta; but the duties of that charge soon -became distasteful to him, and, after a short trial, he resolved, at -the invitation of Castell, to settle in England, and devote himself to -literature. He arrived just as Brian Walton was making arrangements for -the publication of his celebrated Polyglot Bible, and at once entered -earnestly into the scheme. He took up his residence in the house of -John Castell in the Strand, where, for ten years, he applied himself -unremittingly to study. It is told of him that, in the ardour of study -or the indifference of scholastic seclusion, he would not raise his -head from his books to look out of the window, on occasion of Charles -II.’s triumphal progress at the Restoration! Having received from Bishop -Wilkins some information on the subject of Chinese, he conceived a -most enthusiastic passion for that language. He obtained some types at -Antwerp, and, through the instructions of the celebrated Jesuit, Father -Kircher, and other members of the society, he was perhaps the first -European scholar who, without actually visiting China, acquired a mastery -of its language; as he is certainly one of the first who deserted the -track of the old philologers, and attempted the comparative study of -languages on principles approaching to those which modern science has -made familiar. Soon after the completion of Walton’s Polyglot Müller -returned to Germany. He was named successively Pastor of Bernau and -Provost of Berlin in 1667, but resigned both livings in 1685, and lived -thenceforth in retirement at Stettin. He died in 1694. Although a most -laborious man and a voluminous writer, Müller’s views were visionary -and unpractical. He professed to have devised a plan of teaching, so -complete, that, by adopting it, a perfect knowledge of Chinese could be -acquired in half a year, and so simple, that it could be applied to the -instruction of persons of the most ordinary capacity. Haller states that -he spoke no less than twenty languages. - -A Burgomaster-linguist is a more singular literary phenomenon. We are -so little accustomed to connect that title with any thing above the -plodding details of the commerce with which it is inseparably associated, -that the name of Nicholas Witzen, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, deserves to -be specially commemorated, as an exception to an unliterary class. It -was in the pursuit of his vocation as a merchant that Witzen acquired -the chief part of the languages with which he was acquainted. He made -repeated expeditions to Russia between the years 1666 and 1677, in -several of which he penetrated far into the interior of the country, -and had opportunities of associating with many of the motley races of -that vast empire; Slavonians, Tartars, Cossacks, Samoiedes, and the -various Siberian tribes; as well as with natives of Eastern kingdoms not -subject to Russia.[134] Besides inquiries into the geography and natural -history of those countries which lie upon the north-eastern frontier of -Europe and the contiguous provinces of Asia, Witzen used every effort -to glean information regarding their languages. He obtained, in most -of these languages, not only versions of the Lord’s Prayer, but also -vocabularies comprising a considerable number of words; both of which -he supplied to his friend and correspondent, Leibnitz, for publication -in his _Collectanea Etymologica_.[135] How far Witzen himself was -acquainted with these languages it is difficult to determine; but he is -at least entitled to notice as the first collector of materials for this -particular branch of the study. - -David Wilkins, Chamberlayne’s fellow-labourer in the compilation of -the Collection of Pater Nosters referred to in a former page, may also -deserve a passing notice. The place of his birth, which occurred about -1685, is a matter of some uncertainty. Adelung[136] thinks he was a -native of Dantzig; by others he is believed to have been a native of -Holland. The best part of his life, however, was spent in England; where, -at Cambridge, he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity, in 1717. He was -afterwards appointed Librarian of Lambeth and Archdeacon of Suffolk. -His qualifications as Polyglot editor, at the time when he undertook -to assist Chamberlayne, appear to have consisted rather in patient -industry and general scholarship, than in any extraordinary familiarity -with languages; though he afterwards obtained considerable reputation, -especially by an edition of the New Testament in Coptic, in 1716. - -With the illustrious name of Leibnitz we commence a new era in the -science of languages. This extraordinary man, who united in himself all -the most varied, and it might seem incompatible, excellencies of other -men—a jurist and a divine, a mathematician and a poet, a historian and -a philosopher—added to all his other prodigious attainments a most -extensive and profound knowledge of languages. It is not, however, on the -actual extent of his acquaintance with particular languages (although -this too was most remarkable), that his fame as a scientific linguist -rests. He was the first to recognize the true nature and objects of -linguistic science, and to direct its studies to an object at once -eminently practical and profoundly philosophical. It is not alone that, -deserting the trivialities of the old etymologists, he laid down the -true principles of the great science of comparative philology, and -detected its full importance; Leibnitz may claim the further merit of -having himself almost created that science, and given it forth, a new -Minerva, in its full and perfect development. There is hardly a principle -of modern philology the germ of which may not be discovered in his -singularly pregnant and suggestive essays and letters; and, what is far -more remarkable, he has often, with the instinctive sagacity of original -genius, anticipated sometimes by conjecture, sometimes by positive -prediction, analogies and results which the investigations of actual -explorers have since realized.[137] - -One of the most important practical services rendered by Leibnitz to -science, was the organization of academies and other scientific bodies, -by which the efforts of individuals might be systematically guided to one -common end, and the results of their researches, whether in collecting -facts or in developing theories, might, through the collision of many -minds, be submitted to the ordeal of careful examination and judicious -discussion. It is chiefly to him that science is indebted for the Royal -Society of Berlin and the Academy of St. Petersburg. Both of these -bodies, although embracing the whole circle of science, have proved most -eminent schools of languages; and it is a curious illustration of that -profound policy, in pursuance of which we see Russia still availing -herself of the service of genius wherever it is to be found, that many -of the ablest German linguists of the eighteenth century were, either -directly or indirectly, connected with the latter institution. - -Gerard Frederic Müller is an early example. He was born, at Herforden -in Westphalia, in 1705, and was a pupil of the celebrated Otto Mencken. -Mencken, having been invited to become a member of the new academy of St. -Petersburg, declined the honour for himself, but recommended his scholar -Müller in his stead.[138] Müller accordingly accompanied the scientific -expedition which was sent to Siberia under the elder Gmelin, (also a -German,) from 1733 to 1741. On his return, he was appointed keeper of -the Imperial Archives, and Historiographer of Russia. Müller does not -appear to have given much attention to Oriental languages; but he was -more generally familiar with modern languages than most of the scholars -of that period.[139] - -Augustus Lewis Schlötzer, another German literary adventurer in the -Russian service, and for a time secretary of Müller, was a more generally -accomplished linguist. Unlike Müller, he was a skilful Orientalist; -and he was versed, moreover, in several of the Slavonic languages with -which Müller had neglected to make himself acquainted, before engaging -in the compilation of his great collection of Russian Historians. For -this he availed himself of the assistance of his secretary Schlötzer. -Gottlieb Bayer of Königsberg, one of the earliest among the scholars of -Germany, author of the _Museum Sinicum_, also occupied for some years -a chair at St. Petersburg; but he is better known by his ferocious -controversial writings, than by his philological works. A much more -distinguished scholar of modern Germany, almost entirely unknown in -England, is Christian William Buttner. He was born at Wolfenbüttel in -1716, and was destined by his father (an apothecary) for the medical -profession; but, although he gave his attention in the first instance to -the sciences preparatory to that profession, the real pursuit of his life -became philology, and especially in its relation to the great science -of ethnography. It was a saying of Cuvier’s, that Linnæus and Buttner -realised by their united studies the title of Grotius’s celebrated work, -“De Jure _Naturæ_ et _Gentium_;”—Linnæus by his pursuit of _Natural_ -History assuming the first, and Buttner, by his _ethnological_ studies, -appropriating the second—as the respective spheres of their operations. -In every country which Buttner visited, he acquired not only the -general language, but the most minute peculiarities of its provincial -dialects. Few literary lives are recorded in history which present such -a picture of self-denial and privation voluntarily endured in the cause -of learning, as that of Buttner. His library and museum, accumulated -from the hoardings of his paltry income, were exceedingly extensive and -most valuable. In order to scrape together the means for their gradual -purchase, he contented himself during the greater part of his later -life with a single meal per day, the cost of which never exceeded a -silber-groschen, or somewhat less than three half-pence![140] It may be -inferred, however, from what has been said, that Buttner’s attainments -were mainly those of a book-man. In the scanty notices of him which we -have gleaned, we do not find that his power of speaking foreign languages -was at all what might have been expected from the extent and variety -of his book-knowledge. But his services as a scientific philologer -were infinitely more important, as well as more permanent, than any -such ephemeral faculty. He was the first to observe and to cultivate -the true relations of the monosyllabic languages of southern Asia, and -to place them at the head of his scheme of the Asiatic and European -languages. He was the first to conceive, or at least to carry out, the -theory of the geographical distribution of languages; and he may be -looked on as the true founder of the science of glossography. He was -the first to systematise and to trace the origin and affiliations of -the various alphabetical characters; and his researches in the history -of the palæography of the Semitic family may be said to have exhausted -the subject. Nevertheless, he has himself written very little; but he -communicated freely to others the fruits of his researches; and there -are few of the philologers of his time who have not confessed their -obligations to him. Michaelis, Schlötzer, Gatterer, and almost every -other contemporary German scholar of note, have freely acknowledged both -the value of his communications and the generous and liberal spirit in -which they were imparted.[141] - -John David Michaelis[142] (1717-91) is so well known in these countries -by his contributions to Biblical literature[143] that little can be -necessary beyond the mention of his name. His grammar of the Hebrew, -Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic languages, sufficiently attest his abilities -as an Orientalist; and, as regards that particular family of languages, -his philological views are generally solid and judicious. But I am -unable to discover what were his attainments in modern languages; and to -the general science of comparative philology he cannot be said to have -rendered any important original contribution. - -The Catholic Missionaries of Germany, although of course less numerous -than their brethren of Italy and the Spanish Peninsula, have contributed -their share to the common stock of linguistic science. Many of the Jesuit -Missionaries of Central and Southern America;—for example, Fathers -Richter, Fritz, Grebmer, and Widmann—whose papers are the foundation of -Humboldt’s Essay in the _Mithridates_, were of German origin. Father -Dobritzhofer, whose interesting account of the Abipones has been -translated into English[144], under Southey’s advice and superintendence, -was a native of Austria; and the learned Sanscrit scholar, Father -Paulinus de Sancto Bartholomeo, (although less known under his German -name, John Philip Werdin) was an Austrian Carmelite, and served for above -fourteen years in the Indian missions of his order. - -A German philanthropist of a different class, Count Leopold von Berchtold -(1738-1809) the Howard of Germany, deserves to be named, not merely for -his devoted services to the cause of humanity throughout the world, but -for his remarkable acquirements as a linguist. He spoke fluently eight -European languages;[145] and, what is more rare, wrote and published in -the greater number of them, tracts upon the great subject to which he -dedicated his life. He died, at a very advanced age, of the plague, and -has long been honoured as a martyr in the cause of philanthropy; but he -has left no notable work behind him. - -Very different the career of the great author of the _Mithridates_, John -Christopher Adelung, who lived almost exclusively for learning. He was -born in 1734, at Spantekow in Pomerania. In 1759, he was appointed to -a professorship at Erfurt; but he exchanged it, after a few years, for -a place at Leipsic, where he continued to reside for a long series of -years. Although habitually of a gay and cheerful disposition, and a most -agreeable member of society, he was one of the most assiduous students -upon record, devoting as a rule no less than fourteen hours a day to his -literary occupations.[146] His services to his native language are still -gratefully acknowledged by every German etymologist, and his Dictionary, -(although since much improved by Voss and Campe,) has been declared as -great a boon to Germany, as the united labours of the Academy had been -able to offer to France. Adelung’s personal reputation as a linguist was -exceedingly high, but his fame with posterity must rest on his great -work, the _Mithridates_, which I have already briefly described. The very -origination of such a work, or at least the undertaking it upon the scale -on which he has carried it out, would have made the reputation of an -ordinary man. In the touching preface of the first volume, (the only one -which Adelung lived to see published,) he describes it as “the youngest -and probably the last child of his muse;” and confesses that “he has -nurtured, dressed, and cherished it, with all the tenderness which it -is commonly the lot of the youngest child to enjoy.”[147] It is indeed -a work of extraordinary labour, and, although from the manner in which -its materials were supplied, necessarily incomplete and even inaccurate -in its details, a work of extraordinary ability. The first volume alone -(containing the languages of Asia, and published in 1806,) is exclusively -Adelung’s. Of the second, only a hundred and fifty pages had been printed -when the venerable author died in his seventy-third year. These printed -sheets, and the papers which he had collected for the subsequent -volumes, he bequeathed to Dr. Severinus Vater, professor of theology at -Königsberg, under whose editorship, with assistance from several friends, -(and especially from the lamented William von Humboldt and Frederic -Adelung,) the second volume, which comprises the languages of Europe with -all their ramifications, appeared in 1809. The third, on the languages -of Africa, and of America, (for which last the work is indebted to -Humboldt,) appeared, in parts, between 1812 and 1816; and a supplementary -volume, containing additions to the earlier portions of the work, by -Humboldt, Frederic Adelung, and Vater himself, was published in 1817. -It is impossible to overstate the importance and value of this great -linguistic repertory. The arrangement of the work is strictly scientific, -according to the views then current. The geographical distribution, the -origin and history, and the general structural peculiarities of each, -not only of the great families, but of the individual languages, and in -many cases even of the local dialects, are carefully, though briefly -described. The specimen Pater Noster in each language and dialect, is -critically examined, and its vocabulary explained. To each language, -too, is prefixed a catalogue of the chief philological or etymological -works which treat of its peculiarities; and thus abundant suggestions -are supplied for the prosecution of more minute researches into its -nature and history. And for the most part, all this is executed with so -much simplicity and clearness, with so true a perception of the real -points of difficulty in each language, and with so almost instinctive -a power of discriminating between those peculiarities in each which -require special explanation, and those less abnormal qualities which a -philosophical linguist will easily infer from the principles of general -grammar, or from a consideration of the common characteristics of the -family to which it belongs, that one may learn as much of the real -character of a language, in a few hours, from the few suggestive pages -the _Mithridates_, as from the tedious and complicated details of its -professional grammarians. - -Adelung’s associate in the _Mithridates_ and its continuator, Dr. -Severinus Vater, was born at Altenburg, in 1771; he studied at Jena and -Halle, in both of which universities he afterwards held appointments -as professor; at Jena, as extraordinary Professor of Theology in 1796, -and at Halle, as Professor of Oriental Languages in 1800. Thence he -was transferred, in 1809, to Königsberg in the capacity of Professor -of Theology and Librarian; but he returned, in 1820, to Halle, where -he continued to reside till his death, in 1826. Although Vater was -by no means a very scientific linguist,[148] the importance of his -contributions to the study of languages cannot be too highly estimated. -Besides the large share which he had in the preparation of the -_Mithridates_ (the last three volumes of which were edited by him,) he -also wrote well on the grammar of the Hebrew, Polish, Russian, and German -languages. Nevertheless, his reputation is rather that of a scholar than -of a linguist. - -A few years after the author of the _Mithridates_ appears the celebrated -Peter Simon Pallas, to whom we are indebted for the great “Comparative -Vocabulary” already described. He was born at Berlin in 1741, and his -early studies were mainly directed to natural philosophy, which he seems -to have cultivated in all its branches. His reputation as a naturalist -procured for him, in 1767, an invitation from Catherine II. of Russia, -to exchange a distinguished position which he had obtained at the Hague -for a professorship in the Academy of St. Petersburg. His arrival in that -capital occurred just at the time of the departure of the celebrated -scientific expedition to Siberia for the purpose of observing the transit -of Venus; and, as their mission also embraced the geography and natural -history of Siberia, Pallas gladly accepted an invitation to accompany -them. They set out in June, 1768, and after exploring the vast plains of -European Russia, the borders of Calmuck Tartary, and the shores of the -Caspian, they crossed the Ural Mountains, examined the celebrated mines -of Catherinenberg, proceeded to Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia, and -penetrated across the mountains to the Chinese frontier, whence Pallas -returned by the route of Astrakan and the Caucasus to St. Petersburg. He -reached that city in July, 1774, with broken health, and hair prematurely -whitened by sickness and fatigue. He resumed his place in the Academy; -and was rewarded by the Empress with many distinctions and lucrative -employments, one of which was the charge of instructing the young -grand-dukes, Alexander and Constantine. It was during these years that -he devoted himself to the compilation of the _Vocabularia Comparativa_, -which comprises two hundred and one languages; but, in 1795, he returned -to the Crimea, (where he had obtained an extensive gift of territory -from the Empress) for the purpose of recruiting his health and pursuing -his researches. After a residence there of fifteen years, he returned -to Berlin in 1810, where he died in the following year. It will be -seen, therefore, that, prodigious as were his acquirements in that -department, the study of languages was but a subordinate pursuit of this -extraordinary man. His fame is mainly due to his researches in science. -It is to him that we owe the reduction of the astronomical observations -of the expedition of 1768; and Cuvier gives him the credit of completely -renewing the science of geology, and of almost entirely re-constructing -that of natural history. It is difficult, nevertheless,[149] to arrive -at an exact conclusion as to the share which he personally took in the -compilation of the Vocabulary; and still more so, as to his powers as a -speaker of foreign languages; although it is clear that his habits of -life as a traveller and scientific explorer, not only facilitated, but -even directly necessitated for him, the exercise of that faculty, to a -far greater degree than can be supposed in the case of most of the older -philologers. - -The career of Pallas bears a very remarkable resemblance to that of a -more modern scholar, also a native of Berlin, Julius Henry Klaproth. -He was the son of the celebrated chemist of that name, and was born in -1783. Although destined by his father to follow his own profession, a -chance sight of the collection of Chinese books in the Royal Library at -Berlin, irrevocably decided the direction of his studies. With the aid -of the imperfect dictionary of Mentzel and Pere Diaz, he succeeded in -learning without a master that most difficult language; and, though he -complied with his father’s desire, so far as to pursue with success the -preparatory studies of the medical profession, he never formally embraced -it. After a time he gave his undivided attention to Oriental studies; -and, in 1802, established, at Dresden, the _Asiatisches Magazin_. Like so -many of his countrymen, he accepted service in Russia, at the invitation -of Count Potocki, who knew him at Berlin; and he was a member of the -half-scientific, half-political, mission to Pekin, in 1805, under that -eminent scholar and diplomatist. He withdrew, however, from the main -body of this expedition, in order to be able to pursue his scientific -researches more unrestrainedly; and, after traversing eighteen hundred -leagues in the space of twenty months, in the course of which he passed -in review all the motley races of that inhospitable region, Samoiedes, -Finns, Tartars, Monguls, Paskirs, Dzoungars, Tungooses, &c., he returned -to St. Petersburg, in 1806, with a vast collection of notes on the -Chinese, Mantchu, Mongul, and Japanese[150] languages. With a similar -object, he was soon afterwards sent by the Academy, in September, 1807, -to collect information on the languages of the Caucasus, a journey of -exceeding difficulty and privation, in which he spent nearly three years. -On his return to St. Petersburg, he obtained permission to go to Berlin -for the purpose of completing the necessary engravings for his work; -and he availed himself of this opportunity to withdraw altogether from -the Russian service, although with the forfeiture of all his titles -and honours. After a brief sojourn in Italy, he fixed his residence in -Paris. To him the _Société Asiatique_ may be said to owe its origin; and -he acted, almost up to his death in 1835, as the chief editor of its -journal—the well-known _Journal Asiatique_. In Paris, also, he published -his _Asia Polyglotta_, and “New Mithridates.” Klaproth, perhaps, does not -deserve, in any one of the languages which he cultivated, the character -of a very deep scholar; but he was acquainted with a large number: with -Chinese, Mongol, Mantchu, and Japanese, also with Sanscrit, Armenian, -Persian, and Georgian;[151] he was of course perfectly familiar with -German, Russian, French, and probably with others of the European -languages. - -The eminent historical successes of Berthold George Niebuhr, (born at -Copenhagen in 1776), have so completely eclipsed the memory of all his -other great qualities, that perhaps the reader will not be prepared -to find that in the department of languages his attainments were of -the highest rank. His father, Carsten Niebuhr, the learned Eastern -traveller, had destined him to pursue his own career; but the delicacy -of the youth’s constitution, and other circumstances, forced his father -to abandon the idea, and saved young Niebuhr for the far more important -studies to which his own tastes attracted him. His history, both literary -and political, is too recent and too well known to require any formal -notice. It will be enough for our purpose to transcribe from his life -an extremely interesting letter from his father, which bears upon the -particular subject of the present inquiry. It is dated December, 1807, -when Niebuhr was little more than thirty years of age. “My son has -gone to Memel,” writes the elder Niebuhr, “with the commissariat of the -army. When he found he should probably have to go to Riga, he began -forthwith to learn Russian. Let us just reckon how many languages he -knows already. He was only two years old when we came to Meldorf, so -that we must consider, 1st, German, as his mother tongue. He learned at -school, 2nd, Latin; 3rd, Greek; 4th, Hebrew; and, besides in Meldorf he -learned, 5th, Danish; 6th, English; 7th, French; 8th, Italian; but only -so far as to be able to read a book in these languages; some books from a -vessel wrecked on the coast induced him to learn, 9th, Portuguese; 10th, -Spanish; of Arabic he did not know much at home, because I had lost my -lexicon and could not quickly replace it; in Kiel and Copenhagen he had -opportunities of practice in speaking and writing French, English, and -Danish; in Copenhagen he learned, 11th, Persian, of Count Ludolph, the -Austrian minister, who was born at Constantinople, and whose father was -an acquaintance of mine; and 12th, Arabic, he taught himself; in Holland -he learned, 13th, Dutch; and again, in Copenhagen, 14th, Swedish, and a -little Icelandic; at Memel, 15th, Russian; 16th, Slavonic; 17th, Polish; -18th, Bohemian; and, 19th, Illyrian. With the addition of Low German, -this makes in all twenty languages.”[152] - -As this letter does not enter into the history of Niebuhr’s later -studies, I inquired of his friend, the Chevalier Bunsen, whether he had -continued to cultivate the faculty thus early developed. I received from -him the following interesting statement:—“Niebuhr,” he says, “ought not -to be ranked among _Linguists_, in contradistinction with _Philologers_. -Language had no special interest for him, beyond what it affords in -connection with history and literature. His proficiency in languages -was, however, very great, in consequence of his early and constant -application to history, and his _matchless memory_. I have spoken of -both in my _Memoir on Niebuhr_, in the German and English edition of -Niebuhr’s Letters and Life; it is appended to the 2nd volume of both -editions. I think it is somewhere stated how many languages he knew -at an early age. What I know is, that besides _Greek_ and _Latin_, he -learned early to read and write _Arabic_; _Hebrew_ he had also learned, -but neglected afterwards; _Russian_ and _Slavonic_ he learned (to read -only,) in the years 1808, 1810. He wrote well _English_, _French_, and -_Italian_; and read _Spanish_, and _Portuguese_. _Danish_ he wrote as -well as his mother tongue, _German_, and he understood _Swedish_. In -short, he would learn with the greatest ease _any language_ which led him -to the knowledge of historical truth, when occupied with the subject; but -language, as such, had no charm for him.” - -Among the scholars who assisted Adelung and Vater in the compilation of -the _Mithridates_, by far the most distinguished was the illustrious -Charles William von Humboldt. He was born at Potsdam, in 1767, and -received his preliminary education at Berlin. His university studies -were made partly at Göttingen, partly at Jena, where he formed the -acquaintance and friendship of Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, and, above -all, of Herder, from whose well-known tastes it is highly probable that -Humboldt’s mind received the strong philological bias which it exhibited -during his life. Unlike most of the scholars who preceded him in this -career, however, Humboldt’s life was spent amid the bustle and intrigue -of diplomatical pursuits. He was sent to Rome as Prussian Minister in -1802, and, from that period until 1819, he was almost uniformly employed -in this and similar public services. From his return to Berlin, in 1819, -he lived almost entirely for science, till his death, which occurred -at Tegel, near Berlin, in 1835. Humboldt is, in truth, the author of -that portion of the third volume of the _Mithridates_ which treats of -the languages of the two continents of America; and, although a great -part of its materials were derived from the labours of others—from the -memoirs, published and unpublished, of the missionaries, from the works -and MSS. of Padre Hervaz, and other similar sources—yet no one can read -any single article in the volume without perceiving that Humboldt had -made himself thoroughly master of the subject; and that, especially in -its bearings upon the general science of philology, or the great question -of the unity of languages and its kindred ethnological problems, he -had not only exhausted all the learning of his predecessors, but had -successfully applied to it all the powers of his own comprehensive and -original genius. To the consideration, too, of this numerous family of -languages he brought a mind stored with the knowledge of all the other -great families both of the East and of the West; and although it is not -easy to say what his success in speaking languages may have been, it is -impossible to doubt either the variety or the solidity of his attainments -both as a scientific and as a practical linguist. But Humboldt’s place -with posterity must be that of a philologer rather than of a linguist. -His Essay on the “Diversity of the Formation of Human Language, and -its Influence on the Intellectual Development of Mankind,” published -posthumously in 1836, as an Introduction to his Analysis of the Kawi -Language, is a work of extraordinary learning and research, as well as of -profound and original thought; analysing all the successive varieties of -grammatical structure which characterize the several classes of language -in their various stages of structural development, from the naked -simplicity of Chinese up to the minute and elaborate inflexional variety -of the Sanscritic family. M. Bunsen describes this wonderful work as “the -_Calculus Sublimis_ of linguistic theory,” and declares that “it places -William von Humboldt’s name by the side of that of Leibnitz in universal -comparative ethnological philology.”[153] - -The school of Humboldt in Germany has supplied a long series of -distinguished names to philological literature, beginning with Frederic -von Schlegel, (whose Essay “On the Language and Literature of the -Hindoos, 1808,” opened an entirely new view of the science of comparative -philology), and continued, through Schlegel’s brother Augustus, Rask, -Bopp, Grimm, Lepsius, Pott, Pfizmaier, Hammer-Purgstall (the so-called -“Lily of Ten Tongues”), Sauerwein, Diez, Boehtlingk, and the lamented -Castrén, down to Bunsen, and his learned fellow-labourers, Max Müller, -Paul Boetticher, Aufrecht, and others.[154] For most of those, as for -Schlegel, the Sanscrit family of languages has been the great centre -of exploration, or at least the chief standard of comparison; and -Bopp, in his wonderful work, the “Comparative Grammar of the Sanscrit, -Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, old Slavonic, Gothic, and German -Languages,”[155] has almost exhausted this part of the inquiry. Others -(still, however, with the same general view) have devoted themselves -to other families, as Lepsius to the Egyptian, Rask to the Scythian, -Boehtlingk to the Tartar,[156] Grimm to the Teutonic, Diez to the -Romanic, and Castrén to the Finnic. Others, in fine, as Bunsen in -his most comprehensive work, “Outlines of the Philosophy of Universal -History applied to Language,” (the third volume of his “Christianity and -Mankind”) have digested the entire subject, and applied the researches -of all to the solution of the great problem of the science. Some of -those whom I have named rather resembled the ancient heroes of romance -and adventure, than the common race of quiet everyday scholars. The -journeys of Rask, Klaproth, and Lepsius, were not only full of danger, -but often attended with exceeding privation; and Alexander Castrén of -Helsingfors was literally a martyr of the science. This enthusiastic -student,[157] although a man of extremely delicate constitution, “left -his study, travelled for years alone in his sledge through the snowy -deserts of Siberia; coasted along the borders of the Polar Sea; lived for -whole winters in caves of ice, or in the smoky huts of greasy Samoiedes; -then braved the sand-clouds of Mongolia; passed the Baikal; and returned -from the frontiers of China to his duties as Professor at Helsingfors, -to die after he had given to the world but a few specimens of his -treasures.”[158] - -Rask and M. Bunsen, even as linguists, deserve to be more specially -commemorated. - -The former, who was born in 1787 at Brennekilde, in the island of Funen, -traversed, in the course of the adventurous journey already alluded -to, the Eastern provinces of Russia, Persia, India, Malacca, and the -island of Ceylon, and penetrated into the interior of Africa. In all -the countries which he visited he made himself acquainted with the -various languages which prevailed; so that besides the many languages -of his native Teutonic family, those of the Scandinavian, Finnic, and -Sclavonic stock, the principal cultivated European languages, and the -learned languages (including those of the Bible), he was also familiar -with Sanscrit in all its branches; and is justly described as the first -who opened the way to “a real grammatical knowledge of Zend.”[159] M. -Bunsen’s great work exhibits a knowledge of the structural analysis of -a prodigious number of languages, from almost every family. As a master -of the learned languages, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, and (though he has -cultivated these less), Arabic and Persian, he has few superiors. He -speaks and writes with equal facility Latin, German, English, French, -and Italian, all with singular elegance and purify; he speaks besides -Dutch and Danish; he reads Swedish, Icelandic, and the other old German -languages, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romaic; and he has also studied many -of the less known languages, as Chinese, Basque, Finnic, and Welsh, -together with several of the African and North American languages, but -chiefly with a view to their grammatical structure, and without any idea -of learning to read them. - -Nevertheless, with all the linguistic learning which they undoubtedly -possess, neither Humboldt nor the other members of his distinguished -school fall properly within the scope of this Memoir. With all of them, -even those who were themselves accomplished linguists, the knowledge -of languages, (and especially of their vocabularies), is a subordinate -object. They have never proposed the study to themselves, for its own -sake, but only as an instrument of philosophical inquiry. It might almost -be said, indeed, that by the reaction which this school has created -against the old system of etymological, and in favour of the structural, -comparison of languages, a positive discouragement has been given to the -exact or extensive study of their vocabularies. Philologers, as a class, -have a decided disposition to look down upon, and even to depreciate, the -pursuit of linguists. With the former, the knowledge of the words of a -language is a very minor consideration in comparison with its inflexions, -and still more its laws of transposition (Lautverschiebung); Professor -Schott of Berlin plainly avows that “a limited knowledge of languages -is sufficient for settling the general questions as to their common -origin;”[160] and beyond a catalogue of a certain number of words for the -purpose of a comparative vocabulary, there is a manifest tendency on the -part of many, to regard all further concern about the words of a language -as old-fashioned and puerile. It it some consolation to the admirers of -the old school to know, that, from time to time, learned philologers -have been roughly taken to task for the presumption with which they have -theorized about languages of whose vocabulary they are ignorant; and it -is difficult not to regard the unsparing and often very amusing exposures -of Professor Schott’s blunders which occur in the long controversy that -he has had with Boehtlingk, Mr. Caldwell’s recent strictures[161] upon -the Indian learning of Professor Max Müller, or Stanislaus Julien’s -still fiercer onslaught on M. Panthier, in the _Journal Asiatique_,[162] -as a sort of retributive offering to the offended Genius of neglected -Etymology. - - * * * * * - -I shall not delay upon the Biblical linguists of Germany as Hug, Jahn, -Schott, Windischmann, Vullers, &c., among Catholics, or the rival -schools of Rosenmüller, Tholuck, Ewald, Gesenius, Fürst, Beer, De -Lagarde, &c. Extensive[163] as is the range of the attainments of these -distinguished men in the languages of the Bible, and their literature, -this accomplishment has now become so universal among German Biblical -scholars, that it has almost ceased to be regarded as a title to -distinction. Its very masters are lost in the crowd of eminent men who -have grown up on all sides around him. - - * * * * * - -Among the scholars of modern Hungary there are a few names which deserve -to be mentioned. Sajnovitz’s work on the common origin of the Magyar -and Lapp languages, though written in 1770, long before the science -of Comparative Philology had been reduced to its present form, has -obtained the praise of much learning and ingenuity. Gyarmathi, who wrote -somewhat later on the affinity of the Magyar and Finnic languages (1799) -is admitted by M. Bunsen[164] to “deserve a very high rank among the -founders of that science.” But neither of these authors can be considered -as a linguist. Father Dubrowsky, of whom I shall speak elsewhere, -although born in Hungary, cannot properly be considered as a Hungarian. -Kazinczy, Kisfaludy, and their followers, have confined themselves almost -entirely to the cultivation of their own native language, or at least to -the ethnological affinities which it involves. - -I have only discovered one linguist of modern Hungary whom I can consider -entitled to a special notice, but the singular and almost mysterious -interest which attaches to his name may in some measure compensate for -the comparative solitude in which it is found. - -I allude to the celebrated Magyar pilgrim and philologer, Csoma de Körös. -His name is written in his own language, Körösi Csoma Sandor; but in the -works which he has published (all of which are in English), it is given -in the above form. He was born of a poor, but noble family, about 1790, -at Körös, in Transylvania; and, received a gratuitous education at the -College of Nagy-Enyed. The leading idea which engrossed this enthusiastic -scholar during life, was the discovery of the original of the Magyar -race; in search of which (after preparing himself for about five years, -at Göttingen, by the study of medicine and of the Oriental languages,) -he set out in 1820, on a pilgrimage to the East, “lightly clad, with a -little stick in his hand, as if meditating a country walk, and with but -a hundred florins, (about £10), in his pocket.” The only report of his -progress which was received for years afterwards, informed his friends -that he had crossed the Balkan, visited Constantinople, Alexandria, and -the Arabic libraries at Cairo; and, after traversing Egypt and Syria, -had arrived at Teheran. Here, on hearing a few words of the Tibetan -language, he was struck by their resemblance to Magyar; and, in the hope -of thus resolving his cherished problem, he crossed Little Bucharia -to the desert of Gobi; traversed many of the valleys of the Himalaya; -and finally buried himself for four years (1827-1830), in the Buddhist -Monastery of Kanam, deeply engaged in the study of Tibetan; four months -of which time he spent in a room nine feet square, (without once quitting -it), and in a temperature below zero! He quickly discovered his mistake -as to the affinity of Tibetan with Magyar; but he pursued his Tibetan -studies in the hope of obtaining in the sacred books of Tibet some light -upon the origin of his nation; and before his arrival at Calcutta, in -1830, he had written down no less than 40,000 words in that language. He -had hardly reached Calcutta when he was struck down by the mortifying -discovery that the Tibetan books to which he had devoted so many precious -years were but translations from the Sanscrit! From 1830 he resided for -several years chiefly at Calcutta, engaged in the study of Sanscrit -and other languages, and employed in various literary services by the -Asiatic Society of Bengal. He published in 1834 a Tibetan and English -Dictionary, and contributed many interesting papers to the Asiatic -Journal, and the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society. In 1842, he set -out afresh upon the great pilgrimage which he had made the object of his -life; and, having reached Dharjeeling on his way to Sikam in Tibet, he -was seized by a sudden illness, which, as he refused to take medicine, -rapidly carried him off. This strange, though highly gifted man, had -studied in the course of his adventurous life, seventeen or eighteen -languages, in several of which he was a proficient.[165] - -The career of this enthusiastic Magyar resembles in many respects that -of Castrén, the Danish philologer; and in nothing more than in the -devotedness with which each of them applied himself to the investigation -of the origin of his native language and to the discovery of the -ethnological affinities of his race. - - -§ VI. LINGUISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. - -The names with which the catalogue of Italian and that of Spanish -linguists open, find a worthy companion in the first name among the -linguists of Britain. - - * * * * * - -With others the study of languages, or of kindred sciences, formed almost -the business of life. But it was not so with the wonder of his own and of -all succeeding generations—the “Admirable Crichton”; who, notwithstanding -the universality of his reputation, became almost equally eminent in each -particular study, as any of those who devoted all their powers to that -single pursuit. - -James Crichton was born in 1561, in Scotland. The precise place of his -birth is uncertain, but he was the son of Robert Crichton of Eliock, -Lord Advocate of James VI. He was educated at St. Andrew’s. The chief -theatres of his attainments, however, were France and Italy. There -is not an accomplishment which he did not possess in its greatest -perfection—from the most abstruse departments of scholarship, philosophy, -and divinity, down to the mere physical gifts and graces of the musician, -the athlete, the swordsman, and the cavalier. His memory was a prodigy -both of quickness and of tenacity. He could repeat verbatim, after a -single hearing, the longest and most involved discourse.[166] Many -of the details which are told of him are doubtless exaggerated and -perhaps legendary; but Mr. Patrick Frazer Tytler[167] has shown that the -substance of his history, prodigious as it seems, is perfectly reliable. -As regards the particular subject of our present inquiry, one account -states that, when he was but sixteen years old, he spoke ten languages. -Another informs us that, at the age of twenty, the number of languages -of which he was master exactly equalled the number of his years. But the -most tangible data which we possess are drawn from his celebrated thesis -in the University of Paris, in which he undertook to dispute in any of -twelve languages—Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, -French, English, German, Flemish, and Slavonic. I am inclined to believe -that Crichton’s acquirements extended at least so far as this. It might -seem that a vague challenge to dispute in any one of a number of foreign -tongues was an empty and unsubstantial boast, and a mere exhibition of -vanity, perfectly safe from the danger of exposure. But it is clear -that Crichton’s challenge was not so unpractical as this. He not only -specified the languages of his challenge, but there is hardly one of -those that he selected which was not represented in the University of -Paris at the time, not only sufficiently to test the proficiency of the -daring disputant, but to secure his ignominious exposure, if there were -grounds to suspect him of charlatanism or imposture. Unhappily, however, -the promise of a youth so brilliant was cut short by an early death, in -1583, at the age of twenty-two years. Nor did Crichton leave behind him -any work by which posterity might test the reality of his acquirements, -except a few Latin verses printed by his friend, Aldus Manutius, on whose -generous patronage, with all his accomplishments, he had been dependent -for the means of subsistence during one of the most brilliant periods of -his career. - -A few years Crichton’s senior in point of time, although, from the -precociousness of Crichton’s genius, his junior in reputation, was -Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester. He was born in London in 1555, -and, after a distinguished career in the university, rose, through a long -course of ecclesiastical preferments, to the see of Winchester. Beyond -the general praises of his scholarship in which all his biographers -indulge, few particulars are preserved respecting his attainments. Among -his contemporaries he was regarded as a prodigy. Wanley says[168] that -“some thought he might almost have served as interpreter-general at the -confusion of tongues;” and even the more prosaic Chalmers attributes to -him a profound knowledge of the “chief Oriental tongues, Greek, Latin, -and many modern languages.”[169] - -John Gregory, who was born at Agmondesham in Buckinghamshire, in the year -1607, would probably have far surpassed Andrews as a linguist, had he -not been cut off prematurely before he had completed his thirtieth year. -He was a youth of unexampled industry and perseverance, devoting sixteen -hours of the twenty-four to his favourite studies. Even at the early age -at which he died he had mastered not only the Oriental and classical -languages, but also French, Italian, and Spanish, and, what was far more -remarkable in his day, his ancestral Anglo-Saxon. But he died in the very -blossom of his promise, in 1646. - -These, however, must be regarded as exceptional cases. The study of -languages, it must be confessed, occupied at this period but little -of public attention in England. It holds a very subordinate place in -the great scheme of Bacon’s “Advancement of Learning.” In the model -Republic of his “New Atlantis” only four languages appear, “ancient -Hebrew, ancient Greek, good Latin of the School, and Spanish.”[170] -Gregory’s contemporaries, the brothers John and Thomas Greaves, though -both distinguished Persian and Arabic scholars, never made a name in -other languages. Notwithstanding the praise which Clarendon bestows on -Selden’s “stupendous learning in all kinds and _in all languages_,”[171] -it is certain that the range of his languages was very limited. So, -also, what Hallam says of Hugh Broughton as a man “deep in Jewish -erudition,”[172] must be understood rather of the literature than of the -languages of the East; and although Hugh Broughton’s namesake, Richard, -(one of the missionary priests in England in the beginning of the -seventeenth century, and an antiquarian of considerable merit, mentioned -by Dodd[173]) was a learned Hebraist, there is no evidence of his having -gone farther in these studies. - -Indeed, strange as it may at first sight appear, the first epoch in -English history really prolific in eminent scholars is the stormy period -of the great Civil War. It is not a little remarkable that the most -creditable fruit of English scholarship, Walton’s Polyglot Bible, was -matured, if not brought to light, under the Republic. - -The men who were engaged in this work, however, were, for the most part, -merely book-scholars. Edmund Castell, born at Halley, in Cambridgeshire, -in 1606, author of the Heptaglot Lexicon, which formed the companion or -supplement of Walton’s Bible, is admitted to have been one of the most -profound Orientalists of his day. This Lexicon comprises seven Oriental -languages, Hebrew, Chaldee, Samaritan, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, and -Persian; and, if we add to these the classical languages, we shall -find Castell’s attainments to have been little inferior to those of -any linguist before his time; even without reckoning whatever modern -languages he may be supposed to have known. Castell, nevertheless, is one -of the most painful examples of neglected scholarship in all literary -history. Disraeli truly says that he more than devoted his life to his -Lexicon Heptaglotton.[174] His own Appeal to Charles the Second, if less -noble and dignified than Johnson’s celebrated preface to the Dictionary, -is yet one of the most touching documents on record. He laments the -“seventeen years during which he devoted sixteen or eighteen hours a day -to his labour. He declares that he had expended his whole inheritance -(above twelve thousand pounds), upon the work; and that he spent his -health and eyesight as well as his fortune, upon a thankless task.” The -copies of his Lexicon remained unsold upon his hands; and, out of the -whole five hundred copies which he left at his death, hardly one complete -copy escaped destruction by damp and vermin. “The whole load of learned -rags sold for seven pounds!”[175] - -I cannot find that either Castell or his friend (though by no means his -equal as a linguist), Brian Walton possessed any remarkable faculty in -speaking even the languages with which they were most familiar. - -Another of Walton’s associates in the compilation of the Polyglot, as -well as in other learned undertakings, Edward Pocock (born at Oxford in -1604,) appears to have given more attention to the accomplishment of -speaking foreign languages. In addition to Latin, Greek, French, and -probably Italian, he was well versed in Hebrew, Syriac, Ethiopic, and -Arabic. During a residence of six years at Aleppo, as British chaplain, -(1600-6), he had the advantage of receiving instructions from a native -doctor, in the language and literature of Arabia; and he engaged an Arab -servant for the sole purpose of enjoying the opportunity of speaking the -language.[176] In a second journey to the East, undertaken a few years -later, under the patronage of Laud, he extended his acquaintance with -these languages. Two of Pocock’s sons, Edward and Thomas, attained a -certain eminence in the same pursuit; but neither of them can be said to -have approached the fame of their father. - -The mention of Arabian literature suggests the distinguished names of -Simon Ockley, the earliest English historian of Mahometanism, and of -George Sale, the first English translator of its sacred book. Both were -in their time Orientalists of high character; but both of them appear -to have applied chiefly to Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, rather than -to the Biblical languages. Both, too, may be cited among the examples -of unsuccessful scholarship. It was in a debtor’s prison at Cambridge -that Ockley found leisure for the completion of his great History of the -Saracens; and it is told of the learned translator of the Koran, that -too often, when he quitted his studies, he wanted a change of linen, and -frequently wandered in the streets in search of some compassionate friend -who might supply him with the meal of the day![177] - -Another scholar of high repute at the same period, is Samuel Clarke. He -was born at Brackley, in Northamptonshire, in 1623, and was a student at -Merton College, Oxford, when the parliamentary commission undertook the -reform of the University. The general report of the period represents -him as a very profound and accomplished linguist; but the only direct -evidence which remains of the extent of his powers, is the fact that -he assisted Walton in the preparation of his Polyglot Bible, and also -Castell in the composition of his Heptaglot Lexicon. He died in 1669. - -Early in the same century was born John Wilkins, another linguist of some -pretensions. Perhaps, however, he is better known by the efforts which -he made to recommend that ideal project for a Universal Language which -has occupied the thoughts of so many learned enthusiasts since his time, -than by his own positive and practical attainments; although he published -a Collection of Pater Nosters which possesses no inconsiderable -philological merit. He was born in 1614, at Fawsley, in Northamptonshire; -and at the early age of thirteen, he was admitted a scholar of Magdalen -College, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1634. In the contest -between the Crown and the Parliament, Wilkins became a warm partisan -of the latter. He was named Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, by the -parliamentary commission in 1648. Some years later, in 1656, he married -Robina, sister of the Protector, and widow of Peter French; the Protector -having granted him a dispensation from the statute which requires -celibacy, as one of the conditions of the tenure of his Wardenship. In -1659, Richard Cromwell promoted him to the Mastership of Trinity College, -Cambridge; from which, however, he was dispossessed at the Restoration. -But his reputation for scholarship, seemingly through the influence of -Buckingham,[178] outweighed his political demerits; and he was named -successively Dean of Ripon and Bishop of Chester, in which latter dignity -he died in 1670. - -The unhappy deistical writer, John Toland, born in the County Donegal, -in Ireland, in 1669, was one of the most skilful linguists of his day. -His birth was probably illegitimate, and he was baptized by the strange -name of James Junius,[179] which the ridicule of his schoolfellows caused -him to change for that by which he is now known. During his early youth, -he was a member of the Catholic religion; but his daring and sceptical -mind early threw off the salutary restraints which that creed imposes, -although, like Gibbon, only to abandon Christianity itself in abandoning -Catholicity. His eventful and erratic career does not fall within the -scope of this notice, and I will only mention that in the singular -epitaph, which he composed for his own tomb, he speaks of himself as -“_linguarum plus decem sciens_.” In several of these ten languages, as -he states in his memorial to the Earl of Oxford,[180] he spoke and wrote -with as much fluency as in English. Toland died at Putney, in 1722. - -From this period the same great blank occurs in the history of English -scholarship, which we have observed in almost all the contemporary -literatures of Europe. Still a few names may be gleaned from the general -obscurity.[181] It is true that what many persons may deem the most -notable publication of the time, Chamberlayne’s Collection of Pater -Nosters, (1715), was rather a literary curiosity than a work of genuine -scholarship. But there are other higher, though less known, names. - -The once notorious “Orator Henley,” whom the Dunciad has immortalized as -the - - “Preacher at once, and Zany of his age,” - -was unquestionably a linguist of great acquirements. His “Complete -Linguist,” consisting of grammars of ten languages, was published when -he was but twenty-five years old; and throughout his entire career, -eccentric as it was, he appears to have persevered in the same studies. -John Henley was born at Melton Mowbray, in 1692, and graduated in the -University of Cambridge. He took orders, and obtained some notoriety as a -preacher; but his great theatre of display was his so-called “Oratory,” -where he delivered orations or lectures on a variety of topics, -religious, political, humorous, and even profane. It was on one of these -occasions that he drew together a large congregation of shoemakers, by -the promise of showing them “the best, newest, and most expeditious way -of making shoes,” which he proceeded to illustrate by holding out a boot -and _cutting off the leg part_! Henley died in 1756.[182] - -What Henley was in the learned languages, the distinguished statesman -Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl of Granville, was in the modern. With all -his brilliant qualities as a debater, and all his great capacity for -public affairs, Carteret combined the learning and the accomplishments of -a finished scholar. Swift said of him that “he carried away from Oxford -more Greek, Latin, and philosophy, than became a person of his rank.” He -spoke and wrote French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and even -Swedish; and one of the first causes of the jealousy with which Walpole -regarded him, was the volubility with which he was able to hold converse -in German with their common master, George the First. - -But Henley and Carteret stand almost alone among the English scholars of -the early half of the seventeenth century; and the first steady impulse -which the study of languages received in England, may be chiefly traced -to the attractions of the honourable and emolumentary service of the -East India Company. What the diplomatic ambition of France in the Levant -effected among the scholars of that country, the commercial enterprise -of the merchant princess of England achieved in her Indian territory; -and the splendid rewards held out to practical Oriental scholarship, -gave an impulse to the study of Eastern languages on a more liberal -and comprehensive scale.[183] It is in great part to this, that we are -indebted for the splendid successes of Sir William Jones, of Marsden, of -Colebrooke, of Craufurd, of Lumsden, of Leyden, and still more recently, -of Colonel Vans Kennedy. - -The first of these, William Jones, was the son of a school-master, -and was born in London, in 1741. He was educated at Harrow, where -he exhibited an early taste for languages,[184] and was especially -distinguished in Greek and Latin metrical composition. In 1764, he -entered the University of Oxford, where he learned Arabic from a Syrian -whose acquaintance he chanced to form. To this he soon after added -Persian; and in 1770, he performed the very unusual feat of translating -the history of Nadir Shah into French. In the following year he -published his Persian Grammar, which took the general public as much by -surprise, by the beauty and eloquence of the poetical translations which -accompanied the copious examples that illustrated it, as it excited the -admiration of scholars by the simplicity and practical good sense of its -technical details. He soon afterwards applied himself to the language -and literature of China; which, however, he never made a profound study, -as about this time (1770), feeling the precariousness of a purely -literary profession, he took steps to have himself called to the English -bar, and for the following twelve years devoted himself with all his -characteristic energy, and with marked success, to its laborious and -engrossing duties. During the same period he endeavoured unsuccessfully -to obtain a seat in Parliament; but in 1783, he accepted the appointment -of Judge in the supreme court at Calcutta, and repaired to India in -the same year. His attention to the duties of his office, is said to -have been most earnest and exemplary. But, in the intervals of duty, he -travelled over a great part of India; mixed eagerly in native society; -and had acquired a familiarity with the history, antiquities, religions, -science, and laws of India, such as had never before been attained by -any European scholar, when, unhappily for the science to which he was -so thoroughly devoted, he was cut off prematurely in the year 1794, at -the early age of forty-seven. During a life thus laborious, and in great -part spent in pursuits utterly uncongenial with linguistic studies, Sir -William Jones had nevertheless amassed a store of languages which had -seldom, perhaps never, been equalled before his time. Fortunately too, -unlike most of the linguists whom we have been enumerating, he himself -left an autograph record of these studies, which Lord Teignmouth has -preserved in his interesting Biography. In this paper, he describes the -total number of languages with which he was in any degree acquainted to -have been twenty-eight; but he further distributes these into classes -according to the degree of his familiarity with each. From this curious -memorandum, it appears that he had studied critically _eight_ languages, -viz:—English, Latin, French, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit; -_eight_ others he had studied less perfectly, but all were intelligible -to him with the aid of a Dictionary, viz:—Spanish, Portuguese, German, -Runick, Hebrew, Bengali, Hindi, Turkish; _twelve_ others, in fine, he -had studied least perfectly; but he considered all these attainable; -namely Tibetan, Pali, Palavi, Deri, Russian, Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, -Welsh, Swedish, Dutch, and Chinese.[185] - -Now, as Lord Teignmouth[186] describes him as perfectly familiar -with Spanish, Portuguese, and German, three languages which he has -himself placed on the list of languages, “less critically studied, but -intelligible with the aid of a dictionary,” it may fairly be believed -that this estimate is, to say the least, a sufficiently modest one; and -that his acquaintance even with the languages of the third class was by -no means superficial, we may infer from another memorandum preserved by -Lord Teignmouth from which we find that he had studied the grammars of -two at least of the number, namely: Russian and Welsh. His biographer, -however, unfortunately enters into no details as to his power of speaking -languages; but he is said by the writer of the notice in the _Biographie -Universelle_ to have spoken eight languages as perfectly as his native -English. - -In contrast with successes so brilliant as these, the comparatively -humble career of the other British Orientalists named in conjunction with -Sir William Jones, will appear tame and uninteresting. William Marsden -was born in Dublin, 1754; and, after having completed the ordinary -classical studies, was sent out to Bencoolen in the island of Sumatra, at -the early age of sixteen. The extraordinary facility which he exhibited -for acquiring the Malay languages led to his rapid advancement. He was -named first under-secretary, and afterwards chief secretary of the -Island; and, before his return in 1779, he had accumulated the materials -for the exceedingly valuable work on Sumatra which he published in 1782. -Marsden held several important appointments after his return,[187] and -he employed every interval of his official duties in literary pursuits. -He was a thorough master of Sanscrit, and all its kindred languages; -but he must be described, nevertheless, rather as a book-learned, than -a practical linguist. His Essay on the Polynesian or East Insular -languages, tracing their connexion with each other, and their common -relations with Sanscrit, is still a standard source of information on -this interesting ethnological question. - -Henry Thomas Colebrooke,[188] well known by his numerous contributions -to Oriental literature, especially in the Asiatic Journal, was also an -official of the East India Company, whose employment he entered, while -still very young, as a civil servant. Colebrooke was well versed, not -only in the Indian languages, but also in those of the Hebrew and cognate -races; and his early education in France gave him a greater familiarity -with French and other modern tongues than is often found to accompany the -more profound linguistic studies. - -Matthew Lumsden was born in Aberdeenshire in 1777, and went as a mere -boy to India, where his brother had an appointment in the service of the -Company. Lumsden’s knowledge of Hindostani and of Persian led to his -being employed first as translator in the criminal court, and afterwards -as professor in Fortwilliam College, where he remained till 1820. His -skill in Persian and Arabic is attested by several publications upon -both, chiefly elementary; but he can hardly be classed with the higher -Orientalists, much less with linguists of more universal pretensions. - -Lord Cockburn, in the lively section of his amusing “Memorials of his -Own Time” which he devotes to the singular and unsteady career of John -Leyden, says that M’Intosh, to whom “his wild friend” was clearly a -source of great amusement, used to laugh at the affected modesty with -which Leyden “professed to know _but seventy_ languages.”[189] It is -plain that M’Intosh considered this an extreme exaggeration; but there -can be no doubt, nevertheless, that Leyden was a very extraordinary -linguist. This strange man, whose name will perhaps be remembered by -the frequent allusions to it in the early correspondence of Sir Walter -Scott, was born of a very humble family at Denholm in 1775. Though his -education was of the very lowest order, yet Scott relates that “before he -had attained his nineteenth year, he confounded the doctors of Edinburgh -by the portentous mass of his acquisitions in almost every department of -knowledge.”[190] Having failed very signally in the clerical profession, -to which he was brought up by his parents, he embraced that of medicine; -and, after undergoing a more than ordinary share of the privations -and vicissitudes of literary life such as it then existed, he went to -Madras in 1803 in the capacity of assistant surgeon in the East India -Company’s service. The adoption of this career decided the course of his -after studies. He had learned, while yet a mere youth, preparing for the -university, Hebrew and Arabic. He afterwards extended his researches -into all the chief languages of the East, Sanscrit, Hindustani, and -many other minor varieties of the Indian tongues. He was also thorough -master of Persian. His career as Professor of Hindustani at Calcutta -was more successful than that of any European scholar since Sir William -Jones. Having also studied the Malay language, from which he made -several translations, he was induced to accompany Lord Minto on the Java -expedition in 1811, where he was cut off after a short illness in the -same year, too soon, unhappily, to allow of his turning to full account -the important materials which he had collected for the comparative study -of the Indo-Chinese languages. - -The well-known evangelical commentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, born in 1760, -of very humble parentage, at Magherafelt, in the County of Londonderry, -in the north of Ireland, and for a long course of years the most -distinguished preacher of the Methodist communion, enjoyed a high -reputation among his followers as a linguist; but his studies had been -confined almost entirely to the Biblical languages. The same may be said -of the Rev. Dr. Barrett, vice-provost of Trinity College, Dublin, who is -known to Biblical students as the editor of the Palimpsest MS. of the -Gospels, and of the celebrated Codex Montfortianus. - -But there is more of curious interest in the career of a very -extraordinary individual, Richard Roberts Jones, of Aberdarvan, in -Carnarvonshire, who, if not for the extent of his attainments, at least -for the exceedingly unfavourable circumstances under which they were -acquired, deserves a place among examples of the “pursuit of knowledge -under difficulties.” A privately printed memoir of this singular -character, by Mr. Roscoe, who took much interest in him, and exerted -himself warmly in his behalf, contains several most curious particulars -regarding his studies and acquirements, as well as his personal habits -and appearance. Mr. Roscoe first met him in 1806, and described him to -Dr. Parr as “a poor Welsh fisher-lad, as ragged as a colt, and as uncouth -as any being that has a semblance of humanity. But beneath such an -exterior,” he adds, “is a mind cultivated, not only beyond all reasonable -expectation, but beyond all probable conception. In his fishing boat on -the coast of Wales, at an age little more than twenty, he has acquired -Greek, Hebrew, and Latin; has read the Iliad, Hesiod, Theocritus, -&c.; studied the refinements of Greek pronunciation; and examined the -connection of that language with Hebrew.” An attempt was made to raise -him to a position more befitting his acquirements. But his habits were -of the rudest and most uncleanly. “He loved to lie on his back in the -bottom of a ditch. His uncouth appearance, solitary habits, and perhaps -weak intellect, made him an object of ridicule and persecution to the -children of the district; and, he often _carried an iron pot on his -head_ to screen him from the stones and clods which they threw at him. -He wore a large filthy wrapper, in the pockets and folds of which he -stowed his library; and his face, covered with hair, gave him a strangely -uncouth appearance; although the mild and abstracted expression of his -features took from it much of its otherwise repulsive character.” Mr. -Roscoe gives a very curious account of an interview between Dr. Parr and -this strange genius, in 1815, in the course of which Jones “exhibited a -familiarity with French, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldee.” -He described too, for Dr. Parr, his mode of acquiring a new language, -which consisted in carefully examining its vocabulary, ascertaining -what words in it corresponded with those of any language which he had -previously learned, and _having struck such words out of the vocabulary_, -proceeding to impress the _remaining_ words upon his memory, as being -the only ones which were peculiar to the new language which he sought to -acquire. It may easily be believed that Jones’s irreclaimably uncouth and -eccentric habits defeated the efforts made by his friends to place him -in a condition more befitting his acquirements. Clothes with which their -thoughtfulness might replace his habitual rags, in a few days were sure -to present the same filthy and dilapidated appearance. When a bed was -provided for him, he chose to sleep not _upon_, but _under_ it; and all -his habits bespoke at once weakness of mind and indisposition, or perhaps -incapacity, to accommodate himself to the ordinary usages of other men. - -Dr. Thomas Young, although his fame must rest chiefly upon his brilliant -philosophical discoveries, (especially in the Theory of Light), and on -his success in deciphering and systematizing the hieroglyphical writing -of the Egyptians, as exhibited in the inscriptions of the Rosetta Stone -and in the funereal papyri, cannot be passed over in a history of -eminent British linguists. Young was born at Milverton in Somersetshire, -in 1773. His mind was remarkably precocious. He had read the whole -Bible twice through, besides other books, before he was four years -old. In his seventh year he learnt Latin; and before he left school -in his thirteenth year, he added to this Greek, French, and Italian. -Soon after his return from school, he mastered Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, -and Persian; and, in all those languages, as well as in his own, his -reading (of which his journals have preserved a most minute and accurate -record), was so various and so vast, as almost to exceed belief. Having -embraced the medical profession, he passed two years in different German -Universities, during which time he not only extended his knowledge of -learned languages, but also became perfect master of German;—not to speak -of various other acquisitions, some of them of a class which are seldom -found to accompany scholastic eminence, such as riding two horses at -the same time, walking or dancing on the tight rope, and various other -feats of harlequinade! Of his skill in the ancient Egyptian language, as -well as its more modern forms, in which he rivalled, and as his English -biographer, Dr. Peacock, seeks to show,[191] surpassed, Champollion and -Lepsius, it is unnecessary to speak: and it is highly probable that, -having learned Italian while a mere youth,[192] he also made himself -acquainted with Spanish, and perhaps Portuguese. - -Dr. Pritchard, who may be regarded as the founder of the English -school of ethnography, can hardly, notwithstanding, be strictly called -a linguist. If we except the Celtic languages, and Greek, Latin, and -German, most of his learning regarding the rest is taken at second-hand -from Adelung and others. Nevertheless, the linguistic section of his -“Researches into the Physical History of Mankind,” is a work of very -great value. M. Bunsen pronounces it “the best of its kind; infinitely -superior, as a whole, to Adelung’s _Mithridates_”;[193] and Cardinal -Wiseman, in his masterly lecture “On the Natural History of the Human -race,” not only gives Pritchard the credit of being “almost the first who -attempted to connect ethnography with philology,” but even goes so far -as to say that it will henceforth “be difficult for any one to treat of -this theme without being indebted to Dr. Pritchard for a great portion of -his materials.”[194] - -Of the school of living British linguists I shall not be expected to -speak at much length; but there are a few names so familiar to the -scholars of every country that it would be unpardonable to pass them over -entirely without notice. - -The work just quoted, from the very time of its publication in 1836, -established the reputation of Dr. (now Cardinal) Wiseman, still a very -young writer, as a philologist of the first rank. His latest writings -show that, through all the engrossing duties in which he has since been -engaged, he has continued to cultivate the science of philology.[195] -The Cardinal is, moreover, a most accomplished linguist. Besides the -ordinary learned languages, he is master not only of Hebrew and Chaldee, -but also of Syriac (of his scholarship in which his _Horæ Syriacæ_ is -a most honourable testimony), Arabic, Persian, and Sanscrit. In modern -languages he has few superiors. He speaks with fluency and elegance -French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Portuguese; and in most of these -languages he has frequently preached or lectured extempore, or with -little preparation. - -The interesting discoveries of Colonel Rawlinson and of Dr. Hincks, and -Dr. Cureton’s very important Syriac publications, have associated their -names with the linguistic as well as the antiquarian memories of this -age. Nor are there many English Orientalists whose foreign reputation is -so high as that of Mr. Lane. But I am unable to speak of the attainments -of any of these gentlemen in the other families of language. - -By far the most noticeable names in the list of living linguists of -British race are those of Sir John Bowring, now Governor at Hong-Kong, -Professor Lee of Cambridge, and the American ex-blacksmith, Elihu -Burritt. All three, beyond their several degrees of personal merit, -possess a common claim to admiration, as being almost entirely -self-educated. John (now Sir John) Bowring, as I learn from a Memoir -published about three years since,[196] before he had attained his -eighteenth year, had learned Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, -German, and Dutch. He is said to have since added to his store almost -every language of Europe;—Russian, Servian, Bohemian, Polish, Hungarian, -Slovakian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Lettish, Finnish, and even Basque; -and he is further described as familiar with all the provincial varieties -of each; for instance, of the various offshoots of German, and of the -several dialects of Spanish which prevail in Catalonia, Valencia and -Galicia. Dr. Bowring’s later career brought him into familiarity with -Arabic and Turkish; and his still more recent successes in China and in -Siam and its dependencies are equally remarkable. It is not so easy to -offer an opinion as to the degree of Sir John Bowring’s acquaintance with -each of the languages which are ascribed to him. His interesting poetical -translations from Russian, Servian, Bohemian, and other languages of -Europe, are rather a test of elegant literary tastes than of exact -linguistic attainments; nor am I aware to what more direct ordeal his -various attainments have been subjected. It were to be wished that the -Memoir from which these particulars are derived had entered more into -detail upon this part of the subject. But, even making every allowance -for possible exaggeration, it seems impossible to doubt the claim of Sir -John Bowring to a place in the very highest rank of modern linguists. - -Dr. Samuel Lee is perhaps even a still more extraordinary example of -self-education. He was born in the very humblest rank in the village -of Longnor in Shropshire, and, after having spent a short time in the -poor-school of his native village, commenced life as a carpenter’s -apprentice, when he was but twelve years old. In the few intervals of -leisure which this laborious occupation permitted, Mr. Jerdan states[197] -that, without the least assistance from masters, he taught himself Latin, -Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldee; having contrived, from the hoardings of -his scanty wages, to procure a few elementary books in these and other -languages. On his marriage, however, he was forced to sell the little -library which he had accumulated, in order to provide for the new wants -with which he found himself encompassed: and for a time his struggle -after learning was suspended; but his extraordinary attainments having -begun to attract notice, he was relieved from the uncongenial occupation -which he had hitherto followed, and appointed master of a school at -Shrewsbury. In the more favourable position which he had thus obtained, -he soon extended his reading to Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani. In 1813 -he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where it is worthy of note that -he distinguished himself no less in science than in languages, and took -his degree with much credit. He was afterwards appointed superintendent -of the Oriental press of the British and Foreign Bible Society, for which -body he has not only edited the Arabic, Persian, Coptic, Hindustani, -Malay, and other versions of the Bible, but has also translated, or -superintended the translation, of many tracts in these various languages. -When Mr. Wheaton, an American traveller, (brother of the well-known -American jurist of that name) visited Professor Lee, he found him -acquainted with no less than “sixteen languages, in most of which he -was able to write.”[198] Neither this writer, however, nor Mr. Jerdan, -informs us as to the extent of Dr. Lee’s attainments in speaking foreign -languages. - -The list of linguists of the British race may be closed not unworthily -with the still more remarkable name of Elihu Burritt, who, though born -in America (in 1811,) is descended of an English family, settled in -Connecticut for the last two centuries. The circumstances of Burritt’s -father, who was a shoemaker, were so narrow, that the education of -Elihu, the youngest of five sons, was entirely neglected. When his -father died, Elihu, then above fifteen years old, had spent but three -months at school; and, being altogether dependent on his own exertions -for support, he was obliged to bind himself as an apprentice to the -trade of blacksmith. Fortunately, however, an elder brother who was -a schoolmaster, settled in the same town before the term of Elihu’s -apprenticeship expired; and as the latter had carefully devoted each -spare moment of his laborious life to reading every book that came within -his reach, he gladly availed himself, as soon as he became his own -master, of his brother’s offer to take him as a pupil for half a year, -which was all the time he could hope to spare from his craft. During that -time, brief as it was, Elihu “became well versed in mathematics, went -through Virgil in the original, and read several French books.” Having -thus laid the foundation, he returned to his trade, resolved to labour -till he should have acquired the means of completing the work; and, in -the strong passion for knowledge which devoured him, he actually engaged -himself to do the work of two men, in order that, by receiving double -wages, he might more quickly realize the desired independence. Yet, even -while he was thus doubly tasked, and while his daily hours of labour were -no less than fourteen, he contrived to give some time in the mornings and -evenings to Latin, French, and Spanish; and he actually procured a small -“Greek grammar, which would just _lie in the crown of his hat_, and used -to carry it with him to read during his work—the casting of brass cow -bells, a task which required no small amount of attention!” - -With the little store which he thus toilfully accumulated, he betook -himself to New Haven, the seat of Yale College, although without a hope -of being able to avail himself of its literary advantages. Here too he -worked almost unaided. He took lodgings at an inn frequented by the -students, though too poor to enter the university; and in the course of -a few months, by unremitting study, he read through the whole Iliad in -Greek, and had made considerable progress in Italian and German, besides -extending his knowledge of Spanish and French. Having obtained, soon -afterwards, a commercial appointment, he was partially released, for a -space, from the mechanical drudgery in which he was so long engaged; and, -as he was thus enabled to devote a little more time to his favourite -studies, he contrived to learn Hebrew, and made his first advance towards -a regular course of Oriental reading. But this interval of rest was a -brief one; after a very mortifying failure, he was at last compelled to -return once more to the anvil, as his only sure resource against poverty. -Still, nevertheless, he toiled on in his enthusiastic struggle for -knowledge. Even while engaged in this painful drudgery, “every moment,” -says Mrs. Howitt,[199] “which he could steal out of the four-and-twenty -hours was devoted to study; he rose early in the winter mornings, and, -while the mistress of the house was preparing breakfast by lamplight, -he would stand by the mantel-piece, with his Hebrew Bible on the shelf, -and his lexicon in his hand, thus studying while he ate; the same method -was pursued at the other meals; mental and bodily food being taken in -together. This severe labour of mind, as might be expected, produced -serious effects on his health; he suffered much from headaches, the -characteristic remedy for which were two or three additional hours of -hard forging, and a little less study.” - -An extract from his own weekly Diary, which Mrs. Howitt has preserved, -tells the story of his struggle still more touchingly:—“_Monday_, June -18, headache; forty pages Cuvier’s Theory of the Earth, sixty-four pages -French, eleven hours forging. _Tuesday_, sixty-five lines of Hebrew, -thirty pages of French, ten pages Cuvier’s Theory, eight lines Syriac, -ten ditto Danish, ten ditto Bohemian, nine ditto Polish, fifteen names of -stars, ten hours forging. _Wednesday_, twenty-five lines Hebrew, fifty -pages of astronomy, eleven hours forging. _Thursday_, fifty-five lines -Hebrew, eight ditto Syriac, eleven hours forging. _Friday_, unwell; -twelve hours forging. _Saturday_, unwell; fifty pages Natural Philosophy, -ten hours forging. _Sunday_, lesson for Bible class.” - -Through these and many similar difficulties, has this extraordinary man -found his way to eminence. Without attempting to chronicle the stages -of his progress, it will be enough to state that a writer of last year -describes him as at present acquainted with eighteen languages, besides -his native English, viz:—Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, -Turkish, Persian, Ethiopic, Italian, French, Spanish, German, Danish, -Irelandic, Esthonian, Bohemian, and Polish.[200] He is author of several -works, and was for some time Editor of a Journal entitled “The Christian -Citizen.” - -As in the case of Dr. Lee, no attempt is made, in either of the -biographies of Burritt which I have consulted, to define with exactness -the degree of his knowledge of each among the various languages which he -has learned; but if his proficiency in them be at all considerable, his -position among linguists must be admitted to be of the very highest; and -as he is still only in his forty-sixth year, it would be difficult to -predict what may be the limit of his future successes. - - -§ VII. LINGUISTS OF THE SLAVONIC RACE. - -The extraordinary capacity of the Slavonic races for the acquisition of -foreign languages, has long been a subject of observation and of wonder. -In every educated foreign circle Russians and Poles may be met, whom it -is impossible to distinguish, by their language, or even by their accent, -from the natives of the country: and this accomplishment is frequently -found to embrace the entire range of the polite languages of Europe. In -the higher native Russian society, it is rare to meet one who does not -speak several languages, besides his own. Every candidate for public -office in Russia, especially in connexion with foreign affairs, must be -master of at least four languages, French, German, English, and Italian; -and in the Eastern governments of the empire, are constantly to be found -employés, who, to the ordinary stock of European languages, add an equal -number of the dialects of the Asiatic races subject to the Czar. - -In most cases, however, this facility in the use of foreign languages -enjoyed by the natives of Russia and Poland, is chiefly conversational, -and acquired rather by practice than by study; and, among the numbers -who, during the last three centuries, must be presumed to have possessed -this gift in an eminent degree, very few appear to have acquired a -permanent reputation as scholars in the higher sense of the name. - -Unfortunately, too, even were it otherwise, the materials for a history -of Russian linguists are extremely scanty. Not one of those who have -written upon Slavonic Literature, appears to have adverted to this -as a distinct branch of scholarship; Slavonic scholars, too, have -met but imperfect justice from the writers on general biography; and -thus, especially for one to whom the native sources of information are -inaccessible, the rare allusions which can be gleaned from the general -history of Slavonic literature supply but an uncertain and imperfect -guide,[201] even did opportunities present themselves for pursuing the -inquiry. - -It would be unpardonable, nevertheless, to pass the subject over in -silence; and I can only renew in especial reference to this part of the -memoir, the claim for indulgence with which I entered upon this Essay. - - * * * * * - -Christianity, and with it the first seeds of civilization, reached -Russia from Constantinople; and it is not unlikely that the friendly and -frequent intercourse which subsisted between the two courts under the -first Christian Dukes of Muscovy, Vladimir and Jaroslav, may have led to -a considerable interchange of language between the members of the two -nations. The many foreign alliances, too, with Constantinople, Germany, -Hungary, France, England, Norway, and Poland, which were formed by -the children of Jaroslav, may, perhaps, have tended to familiarize his -subjects, or at least his court, with some of the languages of Southern -and Western Europe. But no record of this—the one bright period in early -Russian history—has been preserved, from which any particulars can be -gleaned. - -The division of Jaroslav’s dominions between his sons at his death, (in -1054,) plunged the Russian nation into a series of civil wars and into -the barbarism to which such wars lead, from which it did not begin to -emerge till the sixteenth century; and, although a few translations -(chiefly theological), from Greek and Latin, were made during this -period, yet, from the interruption of all intercourse with foreign -countries, it may be presumed that (with the exception, perhaps, of a -few enterprising individuals, like the merchant Nikitin,[202] who, in -the fifteenth century, traversed the entire East, and penetrated as far -as Tibet,) the natives of an empire so completely isolated concerned -themselves little about any language beyond their own. - -Macarius, who was Metropolitan of Moscow in the middle of the sixteenth -century, did something to promote the introduction of foreign letters -into Russia,[203] and many translations, not only from the Greek and -Latin fathers, but also from the classical writers, were made under -his direction. A still greater impulse must have been given to this -particular branch of study by the new policy introduced by the Czar Boris -Feodorowitsch Godounoff, who not only invited learned foreigners to his -court, but sent eighteen young nobles of Russia to foreign countries to -study their arts, their literature and their languages.[204] - -The results of this more liberal policy, however, had hardly begun to -be felt, when the troubles which followed the well-known revolution of -Demetrius the Impostor, revived for a time the worst forms of barbarism -in the Empire. - -The elevation (in 1613,) of the family of Romanoff to the throne, in -the person of the Czar Michael, by restoring a more settled government, -contributed to advance the cause of letters. The monk Beründa Pameva, -published about this time a Slavo-Russian Lexicon, which exhibits in its -etymologies an acquaintance with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.[205] - -A school was founded at Moscow by the priest-monk Arsenius, for the -study of Greek and Latin, in 1643, one of the scholars of which, -Theodore Rtischtscheff, founded a society for translating works from -foreign languages in 1649; and another school of still more wide-spread -influence was opened in the Monastery of Saikonosspassk, in 1682. It is -worthy of remark, nevertheless, that the first Russian grammar, that of -Ludolf,[206] was printed, not at any native press, but in the University -of Oxford. - -One of the members of the Translation Society alluded to above, the -monk Epiphanius Slawinezki, appears to have been regarded by his -contemporaries as a linguist of notable attainments. He published -a Greek, Latin, and Slavonic Dictionary, and commenced a Slavonic -translation of the Bible from the original Greek, which was cut short -by his death in 1676; but there is no reason to believe that he was -acquainted with any of the Oriental languages; and the inference to be -drawn from the reputation which he enjoyed on so slight a foundation, is -far from creditable to the linguistic attainments of his time. - -It is only from the reign of Peter the Great that the history of -this, as of all other branches of Russian enlightenment, may be -properly said to commence. Independently of the encouragement which -Peter held out to foreign talent to devote itself to his service, the -grand and comprehensive scheme of the academy which he planned under -the direction of Leibnitz, contained a special provision for the -department of languages.[207] And although it was not formally opened -until after Peter’s death, by the Empress Catherine I. (1725), the -influence of the policy in which it originated, had made itself felt -long before. The Czar’s favourite, Mentschikoff, who from an obscure -origin (1674-1729) built up the fortunes of what is now one of the -greatest houses of Russia, was master of eight languages, most of which -he spoke with perfect fluency. Demetrius Kantemir, (1673-1723), father -of the celebrated poet of that name, deserves also to be noticed. He -was descended of a Turkish family, and held the office of Hospodar of -Moldavia; but he prized his literary reputation more than his rank. He -appears to have been a scholar in the highest sense of the name, and -was familiarly acquainted, not only with the living languages which -are so easily acquired by his countrymen, but with several of the -learned languages, both of the East and the West.[208] The poet, his -son Antiochus Demetrjewitsch, is also described as “master of several -languages, ancient and modern.”[209] The same may be inferred regarding -the great traveller, Basilius Gregorowitsch Barskj, who was born at -Kiew, in 1702. He must necessarily have acquired, during his long and -adventurous wanderings in Europe and the East, a familiarity with many -of the languages of the various countries through which he journeyed, -although he was prevented from turning it to account upon his return to -Russia by his premature death in 1747.[210] - -Basilius Nikititsch Tatisscheff, one of the youths sent abroad by Peter -the Great, for the purpose of studying in the foreign universities, -enjoyed a considerable reputation as a linguist.[211] The History of -Russia which he compiled, supposes a familiarity with several Asiatic, -as well as European languages; but, as it is not improbable that part -of the materials which he employed in this history were translated -for his use by assistants engaged for the purpose, it may be doubted -whether this can be assumed as a fair test of his own capabilities. The -linguistic attainments of the celebrated poet Lemonossoff,[212] although -considerable, form his least solid title to fame. His history is so -full of interest, that its incidents, almost utterly unvarnished, have -supplied the narrative of one of the most popular of modern Russian -novels. Born (1711) in a rude fisher’s hut in the wretched village -of Denissowka on the shore of the Frozen Ocean, he rose by his own -unassisted genius not only to high eminence in science, but to the -very first rank in the literature of his native country, of which he -may truly be described as the founder; and, although he does not seem -to have made languages a special study, he deserves to be noticed even -in this department. He was perfect master of Greek, Latin, French, -and German; and possessed with other ancient and modern languages, an -acquaintance sufficient for all the purposes of study. The attainments -of his contemporary, Basilius Petrowitsch Petroff, (1736) were -perhaps more profound. He was a scholar of the celebrated convent of -Saikonosspassk; and having attracted notice by an ode which he composed -for the coronation of the Empress Catherine, he was employed, through the -influence of Potemkin, at the English and several other European courts. -Through the opportunities which he thus enjoyed, he became one of the -best linguists of his day, and we may form an estimate of his zeal and -perseverance from the circumstance of his having learned Romaic after his -sixtieth year.[213] Gabriel, Archbishop of St. Petersburg, (1775-1801) -and one of the most distinguished pulpit orators of Russia, is also -mentioned as a very remarkable linguist.[214] His success, however, lay -chiefly in modern languages. - -The most eminent scholars engaged in the philological and ethnological -investigations undertaken by the Empress Catherine II. were foreigners; -as, for example, Pallas, and Bakmeister. Some, however, were native -Russians, but few details are preserved regarding them. Of Sujeff, who -accompanied Pallas in the expedition to Tartary and China, and who -translated the journals of the expedition into Russian,[215] I have not -been able to obtain any particulars. I have been equally unsuccessful -as to the history of Theodore Mirievo de Jankiewitsch, the compiler of -the alphabetical Digest of Pallas’s Comparative Vocabulary, described in -a former page; but it can scarcely be doubted, from the very nature of -his task, that he must have been a man of no ordinary acquirements as a -linguist, at least as regards the vocabularies of language. - -During the present century a good deal has been done in Russia for -the cultivation of particular families of languages. The “Lazareff -Institute,” founded at Moscow in 1813,[216] by an Armenian family from -which it takes its name, comprehends in its truly munificent scheme -of education not only the Armenian, Georgian, and Tartar languages, -but also the several members of the Caucasian family.[217] An Oriental -Institute[218] on a somewhat similar plan was established at St. -Petersburg in 1823. Another was opened at the still more favourable -centre of languages, Odessa, in 1829; and a fourth, yet more recently, -at Kazan, the meeting point of the two great classes of languages -which practically divide between them the entire Russian Empire.[219] -Individual scholars, too, have taken to themselves particular branches -of the study, some of them with very remarkable success. Timkoffsky, the -well-known missionary in China,[220] and Hyacinth Bitchourin, who was -head of the Pekin Russian Mission from 1808 to 1812, have contributed to -popularize the study of Chinese.[221] Igumnoff of Irkutsch published a -useful dictionary of the Mongol: Giganoff, and more recently Volkoff, a -dictionary of the Tartar languages; of which Mirza Kazem-Beg, professor -of the Turkish and Tartar languages at St. Petersburg, has compiled an -excellent grammar. The same service has been rendered to the language -of Georgia and its several dialects by David Tchubinoff.[222] The -numerous philological writings of Goulianoff, too, and, more lately, -Prince Alexander Handjeri’s _Dictionnaire Français, Arabe, Persan, et -Turc_,[223] have established a European reputation. - -The present Prefect Apostolic of the Arctic Missions, who is a convert -from the Russian Church, is said to be a very extraordinary linguist. -Even before he entered upon his missionary charge, in which, of course, -the circle of his languages is much enlarged, he habitually heard -confessions, at Paris, in six languages. - -Perhaps also it may be permitted to enumerate among Russian linguists -three eminent literary men who have long been resident at St. Petersburg, -and who, although not natives of Russia, may now be regarded as -naturalised subjects of the Empire—Senkowsky, Gretsch and Mirza Kazem-Beg. - -The first is by birth a Pole;[224] but having early attained to much -eminence as an Orientalist, and having travelled with some reputation as -an explorer in Syria and Egypt, he obtained the Professorship of Oriental -languages in the university of St. Petersburg, in which he has since -distinguished himself by an important controversy with the celebrated -Von Hammer. Senkowsky, since his residence in St. Petersburg, has made -the Russian language his own, and is one of the most prolific writers -in the entire range of modern Russian literature. His grammar of that -language is among the most intelligible to foreigners that has ever been -issued. With most of the languages of Europe, he is said to be perfectly -familiar, and his attainments as an Orientalist are of the very highest -rank. He is a corresponding member of the Asiatic Societies of most of -the capitals of Europe, and publishes indifferently in Polish, Russian, -German, and French. - -Gretsch, the editor of the well-known St. Petersburg Journal, “The -Northern Bee,” is perhaps less profound, but equally varied in his -attainments. Although a German by birth, he writes exclusively in -Russian, and is the author of the best and most popular extant history -of Russian literature; of which Otto’s _Lehrbuch der Russischen -Literatur_, although apparently an independent work, is almost a literal -translation.[225] - -Mirza Kazem-Beg is of the Tartar race, but a native of Astracan, where -his father, a man of much reputation for learning, had settled about -the commencement of the century. Soon after the establishment of the -professorship of the Turkish and Tartar languages at Kazan, Kazem-Beg was -selected to fill it; and, after some time, he was removed to the same -chair in the University of Petersburg, which he still holds. Besides the -ordinary learned languages, he is acquainted with the Hebrew, Chaldee, -Arabic, Syrian, Persian, and Turkish, as well as those of the Tartar -stock; and he is described as perfect master of the modern European -languages, especially French, Italian, German, and English. The last -named language he speaks and writes with great ease and elegance, and -has even published some translations into it, as, for example, the -“Derbend-Nâmeh.”[226] - - * * * * * - -The reputation of the Poles as linguists is equally high. So far back -as the election of Henry de Valois, Choisnin, who accompanied Henry -to Poland, says that of the two hundred Polish nobles who were then -assembled, there were hardly two who did not speak, in addition to their -native Polish, German, Italian, and Latin.[227] So universal was the -knowledge of the last named language that, with perhaps a pardonable -exaggeration, Martin Kromer alleges that there were fewer in Poland than -in Latium itself who did not speak it.[228] - -Nevertheless, few names present themselves in this department which have -left any permanent trace in history. Francis Meninski, the learned author -of the _Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalium_,[229] was not only a profound -scholar in most of the ancient and modern languages, but, from his long -residence in the East, and from the office of Oriental Interpreter which -he held, first in the Polish and afterwards in the Imperial service, must -be presumed to have spoken them freely and familiarly. But Meninski was a -native of Lorraine, and by some is believed to have been originally named -_Menin_, and only to have adopted the Polish affix, _ski_, on receiving -from the Diet his patent of naturalization and nobility. - -Among the early Polish Jesuits were many accomplished classical and -Oriental linguists, but in the absence of any particulars of their -attainments, it would be uninteresting to enumerate them. In later times -the names of Groddek and Bobrowski may be mentioned as philologers, -if not as linguists. The learned Jesuit historian, John Christopher -Albertrandy, also, possesses this among many other lilies to fame. He -was a most laborious and successful collector of materials for Polish -history, in search of which he explored the libraries of Italy, from -whence he carried home, after three years of patient research, a hundred -and ten folio volumes of extracts copied with his own hand! From Italy -he proceeded to Stockholm and Upsala, where many important documents -connected with the time of John III. and Sigismond III. are preserved: -and here, being, from some unworthy jealousy, only permitted to inspect -the desired documents on the condition of not making notes or copies in -the library, his prodigious memory enabled him on his return each evening -to his apartments, to commit to writing what he had read during the day, -and the collection thus formed amounted to no fewer than ninety folio -volumes![230] Albertrandy’s historical works are very numerous; and when -his labours in this department are remembered, his success as a linguist -will appear almost prodigious. Besides Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, he knew -most of the modern languages, French, English, Italian, German, and -Russian, and spoke the majority of them with ease and propriety. - -The well-known Polish General, Wenceslaus Rzewuski, devoted the later -years of his busy and chequered career to literary, and especially to -linguistic, pursuits. He is said to have spoken the learned tongues -as well and as freely as his native Polish, and to have been master, -moreover, of all the leading modern languages of Europe. The great -Oriental Journal published at Vienna, _Fundgruben des Orients_, which is -really what its title implies, a _mine_ of Oriental learning, was for -many years under his superintendence. - -The Russo-Polish diplomatist, Count Andrew Italinski, is another example -of the union of profound scholarship with great talents for public -affairs. Born in Poland about the middle of the eighteenth century, -Italinski visited in the successive stages of his education, Kiew, -Leyden, Edinburgh, London, Paris, and Berlin, and acquired the languages -of all those various countries. Being eventually appointed to the Russian -embassy in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, he became even more perfect -in Italian. In addition to all these languages, he was so thoroughly -master of those of the East, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, &c., as to -challenge the admiration even of the Easterns themselves.[231] - -It is perhaps right to add that the eminent Orientalist of St. -Petersburg, Senkowsky, although a Russian by residence and by -association, is not only, as I have already stated, of Polish birth, but -is, moreover, one of the most popular writers in his native language. - - * * * * * - -Our notice of Bohemian linguists must be even more meagre. - -The early period of Bohemian letters presents no distinguished name. From -the extraordinary activity which the Bohemians exhibited in translating -the Bible in the fifteenth century, it might be supposed that the study -of Greek and Hebrew had already taken root in the schools of Prague. But -out of the “thirty-three copies in Bohemian of the entire Bible, and -twenty-two of the New Testament,”[232] which are still extant, translated -during that period, not one was rendered from the original languages. -Blakoslav, the first translator of the Bible from Greek (in 1563) is -said to have been a man of “profound erudition.” The same is said of -George Strye a few years later; and the Jesuits Konstanj, Steyer, and -Drachovsky, are also entitled to notice. - -John Amos Komnensky, also, better known by his Latinized name, Comenius, -a native of Komna in Moravia, (1592-1671) deserved well of linguistic -science, not only by his own acquirements, but by his well-known work, -the _Janua Linguarum Reserata_, which has had the rare fortune of being -translated not only into twelve European languages, but into those of -several Oriental nations besides. The _Janua Linguarum_, however, though -it attracted much attention at the time, has long been forgotten. - -It would be still more unpardonable to overlook the celebrated -philologer, Father Joseph Dobrowsky, who, although born in Raab, in -Hungary, was of a Bohemian family, and devoted himself especially to -the literature and language of his nation. He had just entered the -Jesuit society at Brunn at the moment of the suppression of the order. -Repairing to Prague, he applied himself for a time to the study of the -Oriental languages, but eventually concentrated all his energies on the -history and language of Bohemia. His works upon Bohemian history and -antiquities fill many volumes; and his Slavonic Grammar may be regarded -as a classical work, not only in reference to his native language, but -to the whole Slavonian family. Father Dobrowsky survived till the year -1829, engaged until the very time of his death in active projects for the -cultivation of the language and literature of the country of his adoption. - -But probably the most remarkable name among Bohemian linguists is -that of Father Dobrowsky’s friend, the poet Wenceslaus Hanka, born at -Horeneyes in 1791. Hanka’s love of languages was first stirred while he -was tending sheep near his native village, by the opportunity which he -had of learning Polish and Servian from some soldiers of these races -being quartered upon his father’s farm. When he grew somewhat older, his -parents, in order to save him from the chances of military conscription, -(from which, in Bohemia, scholars are exempted) sent him to school; -and he afterwards entered the University of Prague, and subsequently -that of Vienna. On the foundation of the Bohemian Museum at Prague, -he was appointed its librarian, through the recommendation of Father -Dobrowsky; and from that time he devoted himself almost entirely to the -antiquities, literature, and language of his native country. Besides -his own original compositions, Hanka’s name has obtained considerable -celebrity in connexion with the controversy about the genuineness of the -early Bohemian poems known under the title of “Kralodvor,”—a controversy -which, although it has ended differently, was for a time hardly less -animated than those regarding the Ossian and Rowley MSS. in England. -Notwithstanding the variety of Hanka’s pursuits, and his especial -devotion to his own language, his acquisitions in languages have been -most various and extensive. He is described in the “Oesterreichische -National Encyclopædie” as “master of eighteen languages.”[233] - - * * * * * - -With the Slavonic race our Catalogue of Linguists closes. Many -particulars regarding the eminent names which it comprises are, of -necessity, left vague and undetermined. I should have especially -desired to distinguish, in all cases, between mere book knowledge of -languages and the power of writing, or still more of speaking, them. But -unfortunately the accounts which are preserved regarding these scholars -hardly ever enter into this distinction. Even Sir William Jones, though -he carefully classified the languages which he knew, did not specify -this particular; and in most other instances, the narrative, far from -particularizing, like that of Jones, the extent of the individual’s -acquaintance with each language, even leaves in uncertainty the number of -languages with which he was acquainted in any degree. - -The very distribution, too, which I have found it expedient to -follow—according to nations—has had many disadvantages. But it seemed -to be upon the whole the most convenient that could be devised. A -distribution into periods, besides that it would have been difficult to -follow out upon any clear and intelligible principle, would have been -attended with the same disadvantages which characterize that according -to nations; while the more strictly philosophical distribution according -to ethnographical or philological schools, would have in great measure -failed to illustrate the object which I have chiefly had in view. -Several of the most eminent of the modern ethnographical writers, and -particularly Pritchard, disavow all claim to the character of linguists; -and the qualifications of many even of those whose pretensions seem the -highest, have, when submitted to a rigid examination, proved far more -than problematical. - - * * * * * - -There are many curious details, however, into which, if space permitted, -it would be interesting to pursue this inquiry. - -It might seem natural, for instance, to investigate the nature and -extent of the Miraculous Gift of Languages—the γένη γλωσσῶν of St. -Paul—whether that possessed by the Apostles and other early teachers of -Christianity, or that ascribed in later times to the missionaries among -the Heathen, and especially to the great Apostle of India, St. Francis -Xavier. Materials are not wanting for such an investigation;[234] but as -it can hardly be said to bear upon the subject of this Biography, I have -reluctantly passed it by. - -The history of Royal Linguists, too, might afford much amusing material -for speculation. Mithridates, King of Pontus, as we have seen, spoke -twenty-two languages. Cleopatra was mistress, not only of seven -languages enumerated by Plutarch, but, if we may believe his testimony, -of most other known languages of the time. The accomplished, but -ill-fated, Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia, was familiar with Greek, Latin, -Syriac, and Egyptian; and it may be presumed from the notion which -prevailed among some Christian writers of her being a Jewess, that she -was also acquainted with Hebrew or its kindred tongues.[235] Most of the -Roman Emperors were able indifferently to speak Greek or Latin. - -The mediæval sovereigns, with the exception of Frederic II., referred -to in a former page,[236] and the great and learned Pope Sylvester II., -better known by his family name Gerbert,[237] share, as linguists, the -common mediocrity of the age. The learned Princess Anna Comnena does not -appear at all distinguished in this particular; Charlemagne’s reputation -rests on his acquaintance with Latin, and perhaps also Greek; and our own -Alfred was regarded as a notable example of success, although there is no -evidence that his linguistic attainments extended beyond a knowledge of -Latin. - -Very early, however, after the revival of letters, Matthias Corvinus, the -learned and munificent King of Hungary, attained a rank as a linguist -not unworthy of a later day. Besides the learned languages, he was also -acquainted with most of the living tongues of Europe. Charles V. knew and -spoke five languages.[238] Henry VIII. spoke four. Several of the Roman -Pontiffs, particularly Paul IV., in other respects also a most remarkable -scholar,[239] and the great Benedict XIV., were learned Orientalists, -as well as good general linguists. The house of Stuart was eminent for -the gift of tongues. The ill-fated Mary of Scotland spoke most of the -European languages. James I., her son, with all his silly pedantry, was -by no means a contemptible linguist. His grandson, Charles II., spoke -French and Spanish fluently; and his brilliant grand-daughter, Elizabeth -of Bavaria, who alone, according to Descartes, of all her contemporaries, -was able to understand the Cartesian philosophy, was mistress, besides -many scientific and literary accomplishments, of no fewer than six -languages.[240] Christina of Sweden surpassed her in one particular. -She knew as many as eight languages, the major part of which she spoke -fluently. - -Nor are the courts of our own day without examples of the same -acquirement. The late Emperor of Russia spoke five languages. Several of -the reigning sovereigns of Europe, Queen Victoria, Alexander of Russia, -and Napoleon III. among the number, enjoy the reputation of excellent -linguists. The young Emperor of Austria is an accomplished classical -scholar, and a perfect master of French, and of all the languages of -his own vast empire—German, Italian, Hungarian, Czechish, and Servian! -Prince Lewis Lucian Bonaparte is a distinguished philologer, as well as a -skilful linguist. His “Polyglot Parable of the Sower” is an interesting -contribution to the former science. Even the remote kingdom of Siam -furnishes, in its two Royal brothers, the First and the Second King, -an example more deserving of praise than would be a far higher success -in a more favoured land. The First King, Somdetch Phra Paramendt Maha -Mongkut,[241] has evinced a degree of intellectual activity, rare -indeed among the potentates of the East. Besides the ancient language -and literature of his own kingdom, and all its modern dialects and -sub-divisions, he knows Sanscrit, Cingalese, and Peguan. From the -Catholic missionaries, especially Bishop Pallegoix, he has learned Latin -and also Greek, and from the American Baptists, English. His letters, -though sometimes unidiomatical, are highly characteristic, and display -much intelligence and ability. He is also well versed in European -sciences, especially astronomy and mechanics. He has formed, moreover, a -very considerable collection of astronomical and philosophical apparatus; -has established printing and lithographic presses in the palace; and has -imported steam machinery of various kinds from America. It is gratifying -to add that his brother, the Second King, shares all his tastes, and is -treading worthily in his footsteps. - - * * * * * - -A still more attractive topic would be the long line of Lady-Linguists. - -It is not a little remarkable that, among the sovereigns who have -distinguished themselves as linguists, the proportion of queens is very -considerable. The three names, Cleopatra, Zenobia, and Christina of -Sweden, unquestionably represent a larger aggregate of languages than any -three of the king-linguists, if we exclude Mithridates. - -Nor are the humbler lady-linguists unworthy this companionship. The nun -Roswitha, of Gandesheim, still favourably known by her sacred Latin -poetry, was also acquainted with Greek—a rare accomplishment in the tenth -century. Tarquinia Molza, grand-daughter of the gifted, but licentious -poet of the same name, knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as well as the -ordinary modern languages. Elena Cornaro Piscopia knew Italian, Spanish, -French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and even Arabic.[242] Nay, strange as it -may seem in modern eyes, the university of Bologna numbers several ladies -among the occupants of its pulpits. The beautiful Novella d’Andrea, -daughter of the great jurist, Giovanni d’Andrea, professor of law in the -University of Bologna in the 15th century, was wont to take her father’s -place as lecturer on law; observing, however, the precaution of using -a veil, lest her beauty should distract the attention of her pupils. -Her mother Milancia, scarcely less learned, was habitually consulted by -Giovanni on all questions of special difficulty which arose.[243] Laura -Bassi held the chair of philosophy in more modern times.[244] Clotilda -Tambroni, the last and not the least distinguished of the lady professors -of Bologna, has, besides her literary glories, the honour of having -suffered in the cause of loyalty and religion. Like her friend and fellow -professor, Mezzofanti, she refused, on the occupation of Bologna by the -French, to take the oaths of the new government, and was deprived of the -professorship of Greek in consequence. - -The learned ladies of Bologna are not alone among their countrywomen. -The celebrated Dominican nun, Cassandra Fedele of Venice; Alessandra -Scala of Florence; and Olympia Fulvia Morata of Ferrara, are all equally -distinguished as proficients in at least two learned languages, Latin and -Greek. Margherita Gaetana Agnesi, of Milan, was familiar with Latin at -nine years of age; and, while still extremely young, mastered Greek and -Hebrew, together with French, Spanish, and German. In the very meridian -of her fame, nevertheless, she renounced the brilliant career which lay -open to her, in order to devote herself to God as a Sister of Charity. -Another fair Italian, Modesta Pozzo, born at Venice in 1555, deserves to -be mentioned, although she is better known for her extraordinary powers -of memory, than her skill in languages.[245] She was able to repeat the -longest sermon after hearing it but once. - -Nor are we without examples, although perhaps not so numerous, in other -countries. Many Spanish and Portuguese ladies learned in languages, are -enumerated by Nicholas de Antonio.[246] Dona Anna de Villegas, and D. -Cecilia di Arellano, besides being excellent Latinists, were mistresses -of French, Italian, and Portuguese.[247] To these languages D. Cecilia -de Morellas added Greek as one of her accomplishments,[248] and D. -Juliana de Morell, a nun of the Dominican order in the middle of the -seventeenth century, in addition to these languages, was not only a -learned Hebraist, but an acute and skilful disputant in the philosophy of -the schools.[249] - -The accomplished Anna Maria Schurmann, of whom Cologne is still justly -proud, in addition to her numerous gifts in painting, sculpture, music, -and poetry, was mistress of eight languages, among which were Latin, -Greek, Hebrew, and Ethiopic. - -The brilliant, but eccentric Russian Princess Dashkoff, holds a still -more prominent place in the world of letters. The early friend and -confidant of the Empress Catherine, and (with a few alternations -of disfavour,) the sharer of most of the literary projects of that -extraordinary woman, the Princess Dashkoff had the (for a lady rare) -honour of holding the place of President of the Russian Academy. When -the Dictionary of the Academy was projected, she actually undertook, in -her own person, three letters of the work, together with the general -superintendence of the entire! The princess was not unfamiliar with the -learned languages, some of which she not only spoke but wrote: but her -chief attainments were in those of modern Europe. Her autobiographical -Memoirs appear to have been written in French; and the English letters -embodied in the work prove her to have possessed a thorough knowledge of -that language also. - -Some of our own countrywomen, if less showy, may perhaps advance a more -solid title to distinction. The beautiful Mrs. Carter, translator of -Epictetus, well deserves to be mentioned; and the amiable and singularly -gifted Elizabeth Smith, is a not unmeet consort for the most eminent -linguists of any age. “With scarcely any assistance,” writes her -biographer, Mrs. Bowdler, to Dr. Mummsen,[250] “she taught herself the -French, Italian, Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, and Hebrew languages. She -had no inconsiderable knowledge of Arabic and Persian.” Her translation -of the Book of Job is a permanent evidence that her knowledge of Hebrew -was of no ordinary kind. - -Even the New World has supplied some names to this interesting catalogue. -The Mexican poetess, Juana Inez de la Cruz, better known as the “Nun of -Mexico,” (1651-95), a marvel of precocious knowledge, learned Latin in -twenty lessons, when a mere girl; and quickly became such a proficient -as to speak it with ease and fluency. Her acquisitions in general -learning were most various and extensive; and when on one occasion, in -her seventeenth year, forty learned men of Mexico were invited to dispute -with her, she proved a match for each in his own particular department. -All these accomplishments, notwithstanding, she had the humility to bury -in the obscurity of a convent in Mexico, where she silently devoted -herself for twenty-seven years to literature and religion. She died -in 1695, leaving behind many works still regarded as classics in the -language, which fill no less than three 4to. volumes, and have passed -through twelve successive editions in Spain. All, with the exception of -two, are on sacred subjects.[251] - -“Infant Phenomena” of language would supply another curious and fertile -topic for inquiry—an inquiry too in a psychological point of view -eminently interesting. - -Many of the great linguists enumerated in this Memoir, Pico of Mirandola, -Crichton, Martin del Rio, and several others, owed part of their -celebrity to the marvellous precociousness of their gifts. A far larger -proportion, however, of those who prematurely displayed this talent, were -cut off before it had attained any mature or healthy development. - -Cancellieri[252] mentions a child named Jacopo Martino,[253] born at -Racuno, in the Venetian territory, in 1639, who not only acquired a -knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, between the age of three and seven, but -made such progress in philosophical science as successfully to maintain -a public thesis in philosophy at Rome, when no more than eight years of -age.[254] This extraordinary child, however, died of exhaustion in 1649, -before he had completed his ninth year. - -It was the same for Claudio del Valle y Hernandez, a Spanish prodigy, -mentioned by the same author. - -But probably the most extraordinary examples of this psychological -phenomenon upon record, occur, by a curious coincidence, almost at the -very same date in the commencement of the eighteenth century. Within -the three years, from 1719 to 1721, were born in different countries, -three children of a precociousness (even though we accept the traditions -regarding them with great deductions,) entirely without parallel in -history. - -The first of these, John Lewis Candiac, was born at Nismes, in 1719. -This strangely gifted child, we are told, was able, in his third -year, to speak not only his native French but also Latin. Before he -was six years old he spoke also Greek and Hebrew. He was well versed, -besides, in arithmetic, geography, ancient and modern history, and even -heraldry.[255] But, as might be expected, these premature efforts quickly -exhausted his overtaxed powers, and he died of water on the brain in -1726, at seven years of age. - -Christian Henry Heinecken, a child of equal promise, was cut off even -more prematurely. He was born at Lubeck in 1721. He is said to have been -able to speak at ten months old. By the time he attained his twelfth -month, he had learned, if his biographers can be credited, all the facts -in the history of the Pentateuch.[256] In another month he added to this -all the rest of the history of the old Testament; and, when he was but -fourteen months old, he was master of all the leading facts of the Bible! -At two and a half years of age, he spoke fluently, besides his native -German, the French and Latin languages. In this year he was presented at -the Danish court, where he excited universal astonishment. But, on his -return home, he fell sick and died in his fourth year. - -The third of these marvels of precocity, John Philip Baratier, who is -probably known to many readers by Johnson’s interesting memoir,[257] -was born at Anspach in the same year with Heinecken, 1721. His career, -however, was not so brief, nor were its fruits so ephemeral, as those -of the ill-fated children just named. When Baratier was only four years -old, he was able to speak Latin, French, and German. At six he spoke -Greek; and at nine Hebrew; in which latter language the soundness of his -attainments is attested by a lexicon which he published in his eleventh -year. Nor was Baratier a mere linguist. He is said to have mastered -elementary mathematics in three months, and to have qualified himself by -thirteen month’s study for the ordinary thesis maintained at taking out -the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was also well versed in architecture, -in ancient and modern literature, in antiquities, and even the uncommon -science of numismatics. He translated from the Hebrew Benjamin of -Tudela’s “Itinerary.” He published a detailed and critical account of the -Rabbinical Bible; and communicated to several societies elaborate papers -on astronomical and mathematical subjects. This extraordinary youth died -at the age of nineteen in 1760. - -Later[258] in the same century was born at Rome a child named -Giovanni Cristoforo Amaduzzi,[259] if not quite so precocious as this -extraordinary trio, at least of riper intellect, and destined to survive -for greater distinction and for a more useful career. The precise dates -of his various attainments do not appear to be chronicled; but, when he -was only twelve years old, he published a poetical translation of the -Hecuba of Euripides, which excited universal surprise; and a few years -later, on the visit of the Emperor Joseph II. and his brother Leopold to -Rome, he addressed to the Emperor a polyglot ode of welcome in Greek, -Latin, Italian, and French. His after studies, however, were more serious -and more practical. He is well-known, not only as a linguist, but also -as a philologer of some merit; and in his capacity of corrector of the -Propaganda Oriental Press, a post which he filled till his death, in -1792, he rendered many important services to Oriental studies.[260] - - * * * * * - -It would be interesting too, and not without its advantage in reference -to the history of the human mind, to collect examples of what may be -called Uneducated Linguists; of Dragomans, Couriers, “Lohnbedienter,” -and others[261], who, ignorant of all else besides, have acquired a -facility almost marvellous of speaking several languages fluently, and in -many cases with sufficient, seeming accuracy. - -Perhaps this is the place to mention the once notorious (to use his own -favourite designation) “Odcombian Leg-stretcher,” Tom Coryat, a native -of Odcombe in Somersetshire (1577-1617), and author of the now rare -volume, “Coryat’s Crudities.”[262] Coryat may fairly be described as -“an uneducated linguist;” for, although he passed through Westminster -School, and afterwards entered Gloucester Hall, Oxford, the languages -which he learned were all picked up, without regular study, during his -long pedestrian wanderings in every part of the world; one of which, of -nearly two thousand miles, he accomplished in a single pair of shoes, -(which he hung up in the church of Odcombe as a votive offering on his -return), and another, of no less than two thousand seven hundred, at a -cost of about three pounds sterling! This strange genius acquired, in a -sufficient degree for all the wants of conversation, Italian, Turkish, -Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani! - -Another singularity of the same kind was Robert Hill, the Jewish tailor, -whom Spence has made the subject of an exceedingly curious parallel with -Magliabecchi.[263] And many similar examples might doubtless be collected -among the couriers, interpreters, and valets-de-place of most of the -European capitals. Baron von Zach mentions an ordinary valet-de-place who -could speak nearly all the European languages with the greatest ease and -correctness, although he was utterly ignorant not only of the grammar of -every one of them, but even of that of his own language. I have already -said that the same species of talent is hereditary in several families in -different ports and cities of the Levant. - -The history of such cases as these, if it were possible to investigate -it accurately, might throw light on the operations of the mind in the -acquisition of languages. These, however, and many similar topics, -interesting and curious as they are for their own sake, have but little -bearing on the present inquiry; the purpose of which is simply to prepare -the way for a fitting estimate of the attainments of the illustrious -subject of the following Biography, by placing in contrast with them the -gifts of others who, at various times, have risen to eminence in the same -department. Cardinal Mezzofanti will be found to stand so immeasurably -above even the highest of these names, in the department of language, -that, at least for the purposes of comparison with him, its minor -celebrities can possess little claim for consideration. - - - - -THE LIFE OF CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -[1774-1798.] - - -A Memoir of Cardinal Mezzofanti can be little more than a philological -essay. Quiet and uneventful as was his career, its history possesses few -of the ordinary attractions of Biography. The main interest of such a -narrative must consist in the light which it may tend to throw on the -curious problem;—what degree of perfection the human mind, concentrating -its powers upon one department of knowledge, is capable of attaining -therein; and the highest hope of the author is to escape the reproach -which Warburton directed against Boileau’s biographer, Desmaiseaux, of -having “written a book without a life.” - - * * * * * - -Joseph Caspar Mezzofanti,[264] was born at Bologna,[265] on the 17th -of September, 1774.[266] His father, Francis Mezzofanti, a native -of the same city, was of very humble extraction, and by trade a -carpenter. Though almost entirely uneducated,[267] Francis Mezzofanti -is described by the few who remember him, as a man of much shrewdness -and intelligence, a skilful mechanic, and universally respected for his -integrity, piety, and honourable principles. For Mezzofanti’s mother, -Gesualda Dall’ Olmo, a higher lineage has been claimed;—the name of Dall’ -Olmo[268] being extremely ancient and not undistinguished in the annals -of Bologna; but the fortunes of the immediate branch of that family from -which Gesualda Dall’ Olmo sprung, were no less humble than those of her -husband. Her education, however, was somewhat superior; and with much -simplicity and sweetness of disposition, she united excellent talents, -great prudence and good sense, and a profoundly religious mind. - -Of this marriage were born several children; but they all died at an -early age, except a daughter named Teresa, and Joseph Caspar, the -subject of the present biography. Teresa was the senior by ten years, -and, while her brother was yet a boy, married a young man named Joseph -Lewis Minarelli,[269] by trade a hair dresser, to whom she bore a very -numerous family,[270] several of whom still survive. To the kind courtesy -of one of these, the Cavaliere Pietro Minarelli, I am indebted for a -few particulars of the family history, and of the early years of his -venerated uncle.[271] - -It may be supposed that in the case of Mezzofanti, as in those of most -men who attain to eminence in life, there are not wanting marvellous -tales of his youthful studies, and anecdotes of the first indications of -the extraordinary gift by which his later years were distinguished. - -According to one of these accounts, his first years were entirely -neglected, and he was placed, while yet a mere child, in the workshop of -his father, to learn the trade of a carpenter. As is usual in the towns -of Italy, the elder Mezzofanti, for the most part, plied his craft not -within doors, but in the open street: and it chanced that the bench at -which the boy was wont to work was situated directly opposite the window -of a school kept by an old priest, who instructed a number of pupils in -Latin and Greek. Although utterly unacquainted, not only with the Greek -alphabet, but even with that of his own language, young Mezzofanti, -overhearing the lessons which were taught in the school, caught up every -Greek and Latin word that was explained in the several classes, without -once having seen a Greek or Latin book! By some lucky accident the fact -came to the knowledge of his unwitting instructor: it led of course to -the withdrawal of the youth from the mechanical craft to which his father -had destined him, and rescued him for the more congenial pursuit of -literature.[272] - -A still more marvellous tale is told by a popular American writer, Mr. -Headley, whom his transatlantic admirers have styled the “Addison of -America;” that while Mezzofanti “was still an obscure priest in the north -of Italy, he was called one day to confess two foreigners condemned for -piracy, who were to be executed next day. On entering their cell, he -found them unable to understand a word he uttered. Overwhelmed with the -thought that the criminals should leave the world without the benefits -of religion, he returned to his room, resolved to acquire the language -before morning. He accomplished his task, and next day confessed them in -their own tongue! From that time on, he had no trouble in mastering the -most difficult language. The purity of his motive in the first instance, -he thought, influenced the Deity to assist him miraculously.”[273] This -strange tale Mr. Headley relates, on the authority of a priest, a friend -of Mezzofanti; and he goes so far as to say, that “Mezzofanti himself -attributed his power of acquiring languages to the divine influence.”[274] - -The imagination might dwell with pleasure upon these and similar tales -of wonder; but, happily for the moral lesson which it is the best -privilege of biography to convey, the true history of the early studies -of Mezzofanti, (although while falling far short of these marvels, it is -too wonderful to be held out as a model even for the most aspiring) is, -nevertheless, such as to show that the most gifted themselves can only -hope to attain to true eminence by patient and systematic industry. - -Far from being entirely neglected, as these tales would imply, -Mezzofanti’s education commenced at an unusually early period. His -parents— - - A virtuous household, but exceeding poor, - -conscious of their own want of learning, appear, from the very first, to -have bestowed upon the education of their son all the care which their -narrow circumstances permitted. According to an account obtained from -the Cavaliere Minarelli, he was sent, while a mere child, not yet three -years old, to a dame’s school, more, it would seem, for security, than -for actual instruction. Being deemed too young to be regularly taught, -he was here left for a time to sit in quiet and amuse himself as best -he could, while the other children were receiving instruction; but the -mistress soon discovered that the child, although excluded from the -lessons of his elders, had learned without any effort, all that had been -communicated to them, and was able to repeat promptly and accurately -the tasks which she had dictated. He was accordingly admitted to the -regular classes; and, child as he was, passed rapidly through the various -elementary branches of instruction, to which alone her humble school -extended. - -From this dame’s school he was removed to the more advanced, but still -elementary, school of the Abate Filippo Cicotti, in which he learned -grammar, geography, writing, arithmetic, algebra, and the elements -of Latin. But, after some time, the excellent priest who conducted -this school, honestly advised the parents, young as was their boy, to -remove him to another institution, and to permit him to apply himself -unrestrainedly to the higher studies for which he was already fully -qualified. - -His father appears to have demurred for a while to this suggestion. -Limiting his views in reference to the boy to the lowly sphere in which -he himself had been born, he had only contemplated bestowing upon him a -solid elementary education in the branches of knowledge suited to its -humble requirements; and, with the old-fashioned prejudices not uncommon -in his rank, he was unwilling to sanction his son’s entering upon what -appeared to him an unnatural and unprofitable career, for one who was -destined to earn his bread by a mechanical art. Fortunately, however, his -wife entertained higher and more enlightened views for their child, and -understood better his character and capabilities. - -It was mainly, however, through the counsel and influence of a benevolent -priest of the Oratory, Father John Baptist Respighi, that the career -of the young Mezzofanti was decided. This excellent clergyman, to whom -many deserving youths of his native city were indebted for assistance -and patronage in their entrance into life, observed the rare talents of -Mezzofanti, and, by his earnest advice, promptly overruled the hesitation -of his father. At his recommendation, the boy was transferred from the -school of the Abate Cicotti, to one of the so-called “Scuole Pie,” of -Bologna;—schools conducted by a religious congregation, which had been -founded in the beginning of the seventeenth century, by Joseph Cazalana; -and which, though originally intended chiefly for the more elementary -branches of education, had also been directed with great success, -(especially in the larger cities,) to the cultivation of the higher -studies. - -Among the clergymen who at this period devoted themselves to the service -of the Scuole Pie, at Bologna, were several members of the recently -suppressed society of the Jesuits, not only of the Roman, but also of -the Spanish and Spanish American provinces. The expulsion of the society -from Spain had preceded by more than three years the general suppression -of the order; and the Spanish members of the brotherhood, when exiled -from their native country, had found a cordial welcome in the Papal -states. Among these were several who were either foreigners by birth, or -had long resided in the foreign missions of the society. To them all the -Scuole Pie seemed to open a field of labour almost identical with that -of their own institute. Many of them gladly embraced the opportunity; -and it can hardly be doubted that the facility of learning a variety -of languages, which this accidental union of instructors from so many -different countries afforded, was, after his own natural bias, among -the chief circumstances which determined the direction of the youthful -studies of Mezzofanti. - -One of these ex-Jesuits, Father Emanuel Aponte, a native of Spain, had -been for many years a member of the mission of the Philippine Islands. -Another, Father Mark Escobar, was a native of Guatemala, and had been -employed in several of the Mexican and South American missions of the -society. A third, Father Laurence Ignatius Thiulen, had passed through a -still more remarkable career. He was a native of Gottenburg, in Sweden, -where his father held the office of superintendent of the Swedish East -India Company, and had been born (1746,) a Lutheran. Leaving home in -early youth with the design of improving himself by foreign travel, he -spent some time in Lisbon, and afterwards in Cadiz, in 1768; whence, -with the intention of proceeding to Italy, he embarked for the island of -Corsica, in the same ship in which he had reached Lisbon from his native -country. In the meantime, however, this ship had been chartered by the -government as one of the fleet in which the Jesuit Fathers, on their -sudden and mysterious suppression in Spain, were to be transported to -Italy. By this unexpected accident, Thiulen became the fellow passenger -of several of the exiled fathers. Trained from early youth to regard -with suspicion and fear every member of that dreaded order, he at first -avoided all intercourse with his Jesuit fellow passengers. By degrees, -however, their unobtrusive, but ready courtesy, disarmed his suspicions. -He became interested in their conversation, even when it occasionally -turned upon religious topics. Serious inquiry succeeded; and in the end, -before the voyage was concluded, his prejudices had been so far overcome, -that he began to entertain the design of becoming a Catholic. After his -landing in the Island of Corsica, many obstacles were thrown in his -way by the Swedish consul at Bastia, himself a Lutheran; but Thiulen -persevered, and was enabled eventually to carry his design into execution -at Ferrara, in 1769. In the following year, 1770, he entered the Jesuit -society at Bologna. He was here admitted to the simple vow in 1772. But -he had hardly completed this important step, when the final suppression -of the Order was proclaimed; and, although both as a foreigner, and as -being unprofessed, he had no claim to the slender pittance which was -assigned for the support of the members, the peculiar circumstances of -his case created an interest in his behalf. He was placed upon the same -footing with the professed Fathers; and two years later, in 1776, he was -promoted to the holy order of priesthood, and continued to reside in -Bologna, engaged in teaching and in the duties of the ministry.[275] - -These good Fathers, with that traditionary instinct which in their order -has been the secret of their long admitted success in the education of -youth, were not slow to discover the rare talents of their young scholar -in the Scuole Pie. In a short time he appears to have become to them more -a friend than a pupil. Two, at least, of the members, Fathers Aponte, and -Thiulen, lived to witness the distinction of his later life, and with -them, as well as with his first and kindest patron, Father Respighi, -he ever continued to maintain the most friendly and affectionate -relations.[276] - -It would be interesting to be able to trace the exact history of this -period of the studies of Mezzofanti, and to fix the dates and the -order of his successive acquisitions in what afterwards became the -engrossing pursuit of his life. But, unfortunately, so few details -can now be ascertained that it is difficult to distinguish his school -life from that of an ordinary student. His chief teachers in the Scuole -Pie appear to have been the ex-Jesuit Fathers already named; of whom -Father Thiulen was his instructor in history, geography, arithmetic, and -mathematics;[277] Father Aponte in Greek; and probably Father Escobar -in Latin. As he certainly learned Spanish at an early period, it is not -unlikely that he was indebted for it, too, to the instructions of one of -these ecclesiastics, as also perhaps for some knowledge of the Mexican or -Central American languages. - -But although barren in details, all the accounts of his school-days -concur in describing his uniform success in all his classes, and the -extraordinary quickness of his memory. One of his feats of memory is -recorded by M. Manavit.[278] A folio volume of the works of St. John -Chrysostom being put into his hand, he was desired to read a page of -the treatise “_De Sacerdotio_” in the original Greek. After a single -reading, the volume was closed, and he repeated the entire page, without -mistaking or displacing a single word! His manners and dispositions as -a boy were exceedingly engaging; and the friendships which he formed at -school continued uninterrupted during life. Among his school companions -there is one who deserves to be especially recorded—the well-known -naturalist, Abate Camillo Ranzani, for many years afterwards Mezzofanti’s -fellow-professor in the university. Ranzani, like his friend, was of -very humble origin, and like him owed his withdrawal from obscurity to -the enlightened benevolence of the good Oratorian, F. Respighi.[279] -Young Ranzani was about the same age with Mezzofanti; and as their homes -immediately adjoined each other,[280] they had been daily companions -almost from infancy, and particularly from the time when they began to -frequent the Scuole Pie in company. The constant allusions to Ranzani -which occur in Mezzofanti’s letters, will show how close and affectionate -their intimacy continued to be. - -Joseph Mezzofanti early manifested a desire to embrace the ecclesiastical -profession; and although this wish seems to have caused some -dissatisfaction to his father, who had intended him for some secular -pursuit,[281] yet the deeply religious disposition of the child and his -singular innocence of life, in the end overcame his father’s reluctance. -Having completed his elementary studies unusually early, he was enabled -to become a scholar of the archiepiscopal seminary of Bologna, while -still a mere boy, probably in the year 1786.[282] He continued, however, -to reside in his father’s house, while he attended the schools of the -seminary. - -Of his collegiate career little is recorded, except an incident which -occurred at the taking of his degree in philosophy. His master in -this study was Joseph Voglio, a professor of considerable reputation, -and author of several works on the philosophical controversies of the -period.[283] It is usual in the Italian universities for the candidate -for a philosophical degree, to defend publicly a series of propositions -selected from the whole body of philosophy. Mezzofanti, at the time that -he maintained his theses, was still little more than a child; and it -would seem that, his self-possession having given way under the public -ordeal, he had a narrow escape from the mortification of a complete -failure. One of the witnesses of his “Disputation,” Dr. Santagata, -in the Discourse already referred to, delivered at the Institute of -Bologna, gives an interesting account of the occurrence. “For a time,” -says Dr. Santagata, “the boy’s success was most marked. Each new -objection, among the many subtle ones that were proposed, only afforded -him a fresh opportunity of exhibiting the acuteness of his intellect, -and the ease, fluency, and elegance of his Latinity; and the admiring -murmurs of assent, and other unequivocal tokens of applause which it -elicited from the audience, of which I myself was one, seemed to promise -a triumphant conclusion of the exercise. But all at once the young -candidate was observed to grow pale, to become suddenly silent, and at -length to fall back upon his seat and almost faint away. The auditors -were deeply grieved at this untoward interruption of a performance -hitherto so successful; but they were soon relieved to see him, as if by -one powerful effort, shake off his emotion, recover his self-possession, -and resume his answering with even greater acuteness and solidity than -before. He was greeted with the loud and repeated plaudits of the crowded -assembly.”[284] - -About this period, soon after Mezzofanti had completed his fifteenth -year, his health gave way under this long and intense application; -and his constitution for a time was so debilitated, that, at the -termination of his course of philosophy, he was compelled to interrupt -his studies;[285] nor was it until about 1793, that he entered upon the -theological course, under the direction of the Canon Joachim Ambrosi. -One of his class-fellows, the Abate Monti, the venerable arch-priest of -Bagni di Poreta, in the archdiocese of Bologna, still survives and speaks -in high terms of the ability which he exhibited. He describes him as a -youth of most engaging manners and amiable dispositions—one who, from -his habitually serious and recollected air, might perhaps be noted by -strangers - - For his grave looks, too thoughtful for his years, - -but who, to his friends, was all gaiety and innocent mirthfulness. Mgr. -Monti adds that he was at this time a most laborious student, frequently -remaining up whole nights in the library for the purpose of study. His -master in moral theology was the Canonico Baccialli, author of a _Corpus -Theologiæ Moralis_, of some local reputation. - -Having completed the course of theology, and also that of canon law, -he attended the lectures of the celebrated Jurist, Bonini, on Roman -Law. The great body of the students of the school of Roman Law being -laymen, the young ecclesiastic remained a considerable time unobserved -and undistinguished in the class; until, having accidentally attracted -the notice of the professor on one occasion, he replied with such -promptness and learning to a question which he addressed to him, as -at once to establish a reputation; and Dr. Santagata, who records the -circumstance,[286] observes that his proficiency in each of his many -different studies was almost as great as though he had devoted his -undivided attention to that particular pursuit. - -Meanwhile, however, he continued without interruption, what, even thus -early in his career, was his chosen study of languages. Under the -direction of Father Aponte, now rather his friend and associate than -instructor in the study, he pursued his Greek reading; and as this had -been from the first one of his favourite languages, there were few Greek -authors within his reach that he did not eagerly read. Fortunately, too, -Aponte was himself an enthusiast in the study of Greek, and possessed a -solid and critical knowledge of the language, of which he had written -an excellent and practical grammar for the schools of the university, -frequently republished since his time;[287] and it was probably to the -habit of close and critical examination which he acquired under Aponte’s -instruction, that Mezzofanti owed the exact knowledge of the niceties of -the language, and the power of discriminating between all the varieties -of Greek style, for which, as we shall see later, he was eminently -distinguished. - -One of his fellow pupils in Greek under Aponte was the celebrated -Clotilda Tambroni, whom I have already mentioned in the list of -lady-linguists, and whose name is the last in the catalogue of -lady-professors at Bologna. A community of tastes as well as of studies -formed a close bond of intimacy between her and Mezzofanti, and led to an -affectionate and lasting friendship in after life. To Aponte she was as -a daughter.[288] - -His master in Hebrew was the Dominican Father Ceruti, a learned -Orientalist and professor of that language in the university. About the -same time also, he must have become acquainted with Arabic, a language -for the study of which Bologna had early acquired a reputation. And, what -is a still more unequivocal exhibition of his early enthusiasm, although -Coptic formed no part of the circle of university studies, Görres -states that he learned this language also under the Canon John Lewis -Mingarelli.[289] If this account be true, as Mingarelli died in March -1793, Mezzofanti must have acquired Coptic before he had completed his -nineteenth year. - -Nor did he meanwhile neglect the modern languages. About the year 1792, a -French ecclesiastic a native of Blois, one of those whom the successive -decrees of the Constituent Assembly had driven into exile, came to -reside in Bologna. From him Mezzofanti speedily acquired French.[290] He -received his first lessons in German from F. Thiulen,[291] who had been -one of his masters in the Scuole Pie; and who, although a Swede by birth, -was acquainted with the cognate language of Germany. From him, too, -most probably, Mezzofanti would also have learned his native Swedish, -but, on the occupation of northern Italy by the French, F. Thiulen, who -had made himself obnoxious to the revolutionary party in Bologna, by -his writings in favour of the Papal authority, had been arrested and -sent into exile.[292] Perhaps Thiulen’s absence from Bologna was the -occasion of calling into exercise that marvellous quickness in mastering -the structure of a new language, which often, during Mezzofanti’s later -career, excited the amazement even of his most familiar friends. At -all events, the first occasion of his exhibiting this singular faculty -of which I have been able to discover any authentic record, is the -following:— - -A Bolognese musician, named Uttini, had settled at Stockholm, where -he married a Swedish lady. Uttini, it would seem, died early; but his -brother, Caspar Uttini, a physician of Bologna, undertook the education -of his son, who was sent to Bologna for the purpose. The boy, at his -arrival, was not only entirely ignorant of Italian, but could not speak -a word of any language except his native Swedish. In this emergency -Mezzofanti, who, although still a student, had already acquired the -reputation of a linguist, was sent for, to act as interpreter between the -boy and his newly found relatives: but it turned out that the language -of the boy was, as yet, no less a mystery to Mezzofanti than it had -already proved to themselves. This discovery, so embarrassing to the -family, served but to stimulate the zeal of Mezzofanti. Having made a -few ineffectual attempts to establish an understanding, he asked to see -the books which the boy had brought with him from his native country. A -short examination of these books was sufficient for his rapid mind; he -speedily discovered the German affinities of the Swedish language, and -mastered almost at a glance the leading peculiarities of form, structure, -and inflexion, by which it is distinguished from the other members of the -Teutonic family; a few short trials with the boy enabled him to acquire -the more prominent principles of pronunciation; and in the space of a -few days, he was able, not only to act as the boy’s interpreter with his -family, but to converse with the most perfect freedom and fluency in the -language![293] - -Mezzofanti received the clerical tonsure in the year 1795. In 1796 he -was admitted to the minor orders; and, on the 24th of September in the -same year, to the order of sub-deacon. On the first of April, 1797, he -was promoted to deaconship; and a few months later he was advanced, on -September 24th, 1797, to the holy order of priesthood.[294] At this time -he had only just completed his twenty-third year. - -This anticipation of the age at which priesthood is usually conferred, -was probably owing to an appointment which he had just received (on the -15th of September,)[295] in the university—that of professor of Arabic. -Such an appointment at this unprecedented age, is the highest testimony -which could be rendered to his capacity as a general scholar, as well as -to his eminence as a linguist. - -He commenced his lectures on the 15th of the following December. Dr. -Santagata, who was a student of the university at the time, speaks -very favourably of his opening lecture, not only for its learning and -solidity, but also for the beauty of its style, and its lucid and -pleasing arrangement.[296] - -Unhappily his tenure of the Arabic professorship was a very brief -duration. The political relations of Bologna had just undergone a -complete revolution. Early in 1796, very soon after the advance of the -French army into Italy, Bonaparte had been invited by a discontented -party in Bologna to take possession of their city, and, in conjunction -with Saliceti, had occupied the fortresses on the 19th of January. At -first after the French occupation, the Bolognese were flattered by a -revival of their old municipal institutions; but before the close of -1796, the name of Bologna was merged in the common designation of the -Cisalpine Republic, by which all the French conquests in Northern Italy -were described. By the treaty of Tolentino, concluded in February, 1797, -the Pope was compelled formally to cede to this new Cisalpine Republic, -the three Legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna; and, in the -subsequent organization of the new territory, Bologna became the capital -of the Dipartimento del Reno. - -One of the first steps of the new rulers was to require of all employés -an oath of fidelity to the Republic. The demand was enforced with great -strictness; and especially in the case of ecclesiastics, who in Italy, -as in France, were naturally regarded with still greater suspicion -by the Republican authorities, than even those civil servants of the -old government who had been most distinguished for their loyalty. -Nevertheless the republican authorities themselves consented that an -exception should be made in favour of a scholar of such promise as the -Abate Mezzofanti. The oath was proposed to him, as to the rest of the -professors. He firmly refused to take it. In other cases deprivation had -been the immediate consequence of such refusal; but an effort was made to -shake the firmness of Mezzofanti, and even to induce him without formally -accepting the oath, to signify his compliance by some seeming act of -adhesion to the established order of things. An intimation accordingly -was conveyed to him, that in his case the oath would be dispensed with, -and that he would be allowed to retain his chair, if he would only -consent to make known by any overt act whatsoever, (even by a mere -interchange of courtesies with some of the officials of the Republic,) -his acceptance of its authority as now established.[297] But Mezzofanti -was at once too conscientious to compromise what he conceived to be his -duty towards his natural sovereign, and too honourable to affect, by such -unworthy temporizing, a disposition which he did not, and could not, -honestly entertain. He declined even to appear as a visitor in the salons -of the new governor. He was accordingly deprived of his professorship in -the year 1798. - -He was not alone in this generous fidelity. His friend Signora -Tambroni displayed equal firmness. It is less generally known that the -distinguished experimentalist, Ludovico Galvani,[298] was a martyr in the -same cause. Like Mezzofanti, on refusing the oath, he was stripped of all -his offices and emoluments. Less fortunate than Mezzofanti, he sunk under -the stroke. He was plunged into the deepest distress and debility; and, -although his Republican rulers were at length driven by shame to decree -his restoration to his chair, the reparation came too late. He died in -1798. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -[1798-1802.] - - -The years which followed this forfeiture of his professorship were a -period of much care, as well as of severe personal privation, for the -Abate Mezzofanti. - -Both his parents were still living;—his father no longer able to maintain -himself by his handicraft; his mother for some years afflicted with -partial blindness, and in broken or failing health. The family of his -sister, Teresa Minarelli, had already become very numerous, and the -scanty earnings of her husband’s occupation hardly sufficed for their -maintenance, much less for the expenses of their education. In addition, -therefore, to his own necessities, Joseph Mezzofanti was now in great -measure burdened with this twofold responsibility—a responsibility to -which so affectionate a brother, and so dutiful a son could not be -indifferent. To meet these demands, he had hitherto relied mainly upon -the income arising from his professorship, although this was miserably -inadequate, the salaries attached to the professorships in Bologna, at -the time when Lalande visited Italy, (1765-6,) not exceeding a hundred -Roman crowns, (little more than £25). Small, however, as it was, this -salary was Mezzofanti’s main source of income. As a title to ordination, -the archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Giovanetti, had conferred upon him -two small benefices, the united revenues of which, strange as it may -sound in English ears, did not exceed eight pounds sterling;[299] and -an excellent ecclesiastic, F. Anthony Magnani, who had long known and -appreciated the virtues of the family, and had taken a warm interest in -Joseph from his boyhood, settled upon him from his own private resources -about the same amount. Now, as Mezzofanti had devoted himself to -literature, and lived as a simple priest at Bologna, declining to accept -any preferment to which the care of souls was annexed, this wretched -pittance constituted his entire income. It is true that he was about -this period chaplain of the Collegio Albornoz,[300] an ancient Spanish -foundation of the great Cardinal of that name;[301] but his services -appear either to have been entirely gratuitous, or the emolument, if any, -was little more than nominal. - -And thus, when the Abate Mezzofanti, relying upon Providence, had the -courage to throw up, for conscience sake, the salary which constituted -nearly two-thirds of his entire revenue, he found himself burdened with -the responsibilities already described, while his entire certain income -was considerably less than twenty pounds sterling! Nevertheless, gloomy -and disheartening as was this prospect, far from suffering himself to -be cast down by it, he was even courageous enough to venture, about -this time, on the further responsibility of receiving his sister and -her family into his own house. The renewal of hostilities in Italy, in -1799, filled him with alarm for her security; and his nephew, Cavaliere -Minarelli, who has been good enough to communicate to me a short MS. -Memoir of the events of this period of his uncle’s life, still remembers -the day on which, while the French and Austrian troops were actually -engaged before the walls, and the shot and shells had already begun to -fall within the city, his uncle came to their house, at considerable -personal risk, and insisted that his sister and her children should -remove to his own house which was in a less exposed position. From that -date (1799) they continued to reside with him. - -To meet this increased expenditure, the Abate’s only resource lay in -that wearisome and ill-requited drudgery in which the best years of -struggling genius are so often frittered away—private instruction. He -undertook the humble, but responsible, duties of private tutor, and -turned industriously, if not very profitably, to account, the numerous -acquisitions of his early years. There are few of the distinguished -families of Bologna, some of whose members were not among his pupils—the -Marescalchi, Pallavicini, Ercolani, Martinetti, Bentivoglio, Marsigli, -Sampieri, Angelelli, Marchetti, and others. To these, as well as to -several foreigners, he gave instructions in ancient and modern languages, -to some in his own apartments, but more generally in their houses. - -As regarded his own personal improvement in learning, these engagements, -of course, were, for the most part, a wasteful expenditure of time -and opportunities for study; but there was one of them—that with the -Marescalchi family[302]—which supplied in the end an occasion for -extending and improving his knowledge of languages. The library of the -Marescalchi palace is especially rich in that department; and, as the -modest and engaging manners of Mezzofanti quickly established him on the -footing of a valued friend, rather than of an instructor, in the family, -he enjoyed unrestricted use of the opportunities for his own peculiar -studies which it afforded. In this family, too, one of the most ancient -and distinguished in Bologna, he had frequent opportunities of meeting -and conversing with foreigners, each in the language of his own country. - - * * * * * - -At all events, whatever may have been his actual opportunities of study -during the years which succeeded his deprivation, it is certain that, -upon the whole, his progress during that time was not less wonderful than -at the most favoured periods of his life. Northern Italy, during this -troubled time, was the principal seat of the struggle between Austria -and the French Republic; and from the first advance of the French in -1796, till the decisive field of Marengo in 1800, Bologna found itself -alternately in the occupation of one or other of the contending powers. -For nearly twelve months, however, after the battle of Trebbia, in July, -1799, the Austrians remained in undisturbed possession. The army of -Austria at that day comprised in its motley ranks, representatives of -most of the leading European languages—Teutonic, Slavonic, Czechish, -Magyar, Romanic, &c. The intercourse with the officers and soldiery thus -opened for Mezzofanti, in itself supplied a school of languages, which, -taken in conjunction with the university, and its other resources, it -would have been difficult to find in any other single European city, -except Rome. - -And these advantages presented themselves to the Abate Mezzofanti, since -his advancement to the priesthood, in a way which enlisted still higher -feelings than that desire for knowledge which had hitherto formed his -main incentive to study. - -All the accounts which have been preserved of the early years of his -ministry, concur in extolling his remarkable piety, his devotedness -to the duties of the confessional,[303] and above all his active and -tender charity. He had a share in every work of benevolence. He loved -to organize little plans for the education of the poor. Notwithstanding -his numerous and pressing occupations, he was a constant visitant of -the numerous charitable institutions for which Bologna, even among the -munificent cities of Italy, has long been celebrated. He was particularly -devoted to the sick;—not only to the class who are called in Italy “the -bashful poor,” whom he loved to seek out and visit at their own houses, -and to whom, poor as he was in worldly wealth, his active benevolence -enabled him to render services which money could not have procured;—but -also in the public hospitals, both civil and military. Now the terrible -campaign of 1796-’97, and again of 1799, had filled the camps of both -armies with sick and wounded soldiers; and thus in the public hospitals -of Bologna were constantly to be found invalids of almost every European -race. M. Manavit[304] states that, even before Mezzofanti was ordained -priest, he had begun to act as interpreter to the wounded or dying in the -hospitals, whether of their temporal or their spiritual wants and wishes. -From the date of his ordination, of course, he was moved to the same -service by a zeal still higher and more holy. - -“I was at Bologna,” he himself told M. Manavit,[305] “during the time -of the war. I was then young in the sacred ministry; it was my practice -to visit the military hospitals. I constantly met there Hungarians, -Slavonians, Germans, and Bohemians, who had been wounded in battle, or -invalided during the campaign; and it pained me to the heart that from -want of the means of communicating with them, I was unable to confess -those among them who were Catholics, or to bring back to the Church those -who were separated from her communion. In such cases, accordingly, I -used to apply myself, with all my energy, to the study of the language -of the patients, until I knew enough of them to make myself understood; -I required no more. With these first rudiments I presented myself among -the sick wards. Such of the invalids as desired it, I managed to confess; -with others I held occasional conversations; and thus in a short time -I acquired a considerable vocabulary. At length, through the grace of -God, assisted by my private studies, and by a retentive memory, I came -to know, not merely the generic languages of the nations to which the -several invalids belonged, but even the peculiar dialects of their -various provinces.” - -In this way, being already well acquainted with German, he became master -successively of Magyar, Bohemian, or Czechish, Polish, and even of the -Gipsy dialect, which he learned from one of that strange race, who was -a soldier in a Hungarian regiment quartered at Bologna during this -period.[306] It is probable, too, that it was in the same manner he also -learned Russian. It is at least certain that he was able to speak that -language fluently, at the date of his acquaintance with the celebrated -Suwarrow. Mezzofanti’s report of the acquirements of this “remarkable -barbarian” differs widely from the notion then popularly entertained -regarding him. He described him as a most accomplished linguist, and -a well-read scholar. This report, it may be added, is fully confirmed -by the most recent authorities, and Alison describes him as “highly -educated, polished in his manners, speaking and writing seven languages -with facility, and extensively read, especially upon the art of war.”[307] - -It was about this time also that Mezzofanti learned Flemish. He acquired -that language from a youth of Brussels, who came as a student to the -University of Bologna.[308] - -The reputation which he was thus gradually establishing, of itself served -to extend his opportunities of exercise in languages. Every foreigner who -visited Bologna sought his society for the purpose of testing personally -the truth of the marvellous reports which had been circulation. In these -days Bologna was the high road to Rome, and few visitors to that capital -failed to tarry for a short time at Bologna, to examine the many objects -of interest which it contains. To all of these Mezzofanti found a ready -and welcome access. There were few with whom his fertile vocabulary did -not supply some medium of communication; but, even when the stranger -could not speak any except the unknown tongue, Mezzofanti’s ready -ingenuity soon enabled him, as with the patients in the hospital, to -establish a system for the interchange of thought. A very small number -of leading words sufficed as a foundation; and the almost instinctive -facility with which, by a single effort, he grasped all the principal -peculiarities of the structure of each new language, speedily enabled -him to acquire enough of the essential inflections of each to enter -on the preliminaries of conversation. For his marvellous instinct of -acquisitiveness this was enough. The iron tenacity of his memory never -let go a word, a phrase, an idiom, or even a sound, which it once had -mastered. - -In his zeal for the extension of the circle of his knowledge of -languages, too, he pushed to the utmost the valuable opportunities -derivable from the converse of foreigners. “The hotel-keepers,” he told -M. Manavit,[309] “were in the habit of apprising me of the arrival of -all strangers at Bologna. I made no difficulty when anything was to be -learned, about calling on them, interrogating them, making notes of their -communications, and taking instructions from them in the pronunciation -of their respective languages. A few learned Jesuits, and several -Spaniards, Portuguese, and Mexicans, who resided at Bologna, afforded -me valuable aid in learning both the ancient languages, and those of -their own countries. I made it a rule to learn every new grammar, and -to apply myself to every strange dictionary that came within my reach. -I was constantly filling my head with new words; and, whenever any new -strangers, whether of high or low degree, passed through Bologna, I -endeavoured to turn them to account, using the one for the purpose of -perfecting my pronunciation, and the other for that of learning the -familiar words and turns of expression. I must confess, too, that it cost -me but little trouble; for, in addition to an excellent memory, God had -blessed me with an incredible flexibility of the organs of speech.” - -Occasionally, too, he received applications from merchants, bankers, and -even private individuals, to translate for them portions of their foreign -correspondence which chanced to be written in some of the languages of -less ordinary occurrence. In all such cases, Dr. Santagata[310] says, -Mezzofanti was the unfailing resource; and his good nature was as ready -as his knowledge was universal. He cheerfully rendered to every applicant -every such assistance; and it was his invariable rule never to accept any -remuneration whatsoever for this or any similar service.[311] - -Even his regular priestly duties as a confessor now contributed, as his -extraordinary duties in the hospitals had done before, to enlarge his -stock of languages. He was soon marked out as the “foreigners’ confessor” -(_confessario dei forestieri_) of Bologna, an office which, in Rome and -other Catholic cities, is generally entrusted to a staff consisting -of many individuals. Almost every foreigner was sure to find a ready -resource in Mezzofanti; though it more than once happened that, as a -preliminary step towards receiving the confession of the party applying -for this office of his ministry, he had to place himself as a pupil in -the hands of the intending penitent, and to acquire from him or her the -rudiments of the language in which they were to communicate with each -other. The process to him was simple enough. If the stranger was able to -repeat for him the Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, -or any one of those familiar prayers which are the common property of all -Christian countries, or even to supply the names of a few of the leading -ideas of Christian theology, as God, sin, virtue, earth, heaven, hell, -&c., it was sufficient for Mezzofanti. In many cases he proceeded to -build, upon a foundation not a whit more substantial than this, the whole -fabric of the grammar, and to a great extent even of the vocabulary, of -a language. A remarkable instance of this faculty I shall have to relate -in the later years of his life. Another, which belongs to the present -period, has been communicated to me by Cardinal Wiseman. “Mezzofanti -told me,” says his Eminence, “that a lady from the island of Sardinia -once came to Bologna, bringing with her a maid who could speak nothing -but the Sardinian dialect, a soft patois composed of Latin, Italian, and -Spanish (e.g., Mezzofanti told me that _columba mia_ is Sardinian for “my -wife.”) As Easter approached the girl became anxious and unhappy about -confession, despairing of finding a confessor to whom she should be able -to make herself understood. The lady sent for Mezzofanti; but at that -time he had never thought of learning the language. He told the lady, -nevertheless, that, in a fortnight, he would be prepared to hear her -maid’s confession. She laughed at the idea; but Mezzofanti persisted, and -came to the house every evening for about an hour. When Easter arrived, -he was able to speak Sardinian fluently, and heard the girl’s confession!” - - * * * * * - -It might be instructive to trace the order in which the several -languages which he mastered in this earlier part of his career were -successively acquired. But unfortunately neither the papers and letters -which have been preserved, nor the recollections of the few friends who -have survived, have thrown much light upon this interesting inquiry. -All accounts, however, agree in representing his life during these -years as laborious almost beyond belief. The weary hours occupied in -the drudgery of tuition; the time given to the manifold self-imposed -occupations described in this chapter; the time spent in the ordinary -devotional exercises of a priest, and in the performance of those duties -of the ministry in the hospitals and elsewhere which he had undertaken; -above all, the time regularly and perseveringly given to his great -and all-engrossing study of languages;—may well be thought to form an -aggregate of laborious application hardly surpassed in the whole range of -literary history. It fully confirms the well-known assurance of the noble -Prologue of Bacon’s “Advancement of Learning:” “Let no man doubt that -learning will expulse business, but rather it will keep and defend the -possession of the mind against idleness and pleasure, which otherwise may -enter at unawares to the prejudice of both.” Other students may perhaps -have devoted a longer time to continuous application. The celebrated -Jesuit theologian, Father Suarez, is said to have spent seventeen hours -out of the twenty-four between his studies and his devotions. Castell, -the author of the Heptaglot Lexicon, declares, in the feeling address -which accompanied its publication, that his thankless and unrequited -task had occupied him for sixteen or eighteen hours every day during -twenty years.[312] Theophilus Raynaud, during his long life of eighty -years, only allowed himself a quarter of an hour daily from his studies -for dinner;[313] and the Puritan divine, Prynne, seldom would spare -time to dine at all.[314] It may be doubted whether the actual labour -of Mezzofanti, broken up and divided over so many almost incompatible -occupations, did not equal and perhaps exceed them all in amount, if not -in intensity. According to the account of Guido Görres,[315] his time for -sleep, during this period of his life, was limited to three hours.[316] -His self-denial in all other respects was almost equally wonderful. -He was singularly abstemious both in eating and in drinking; and his -power of enduring the intense cold which prevails in the winter months -throughout the whole of Northern Italy, especially in the vicinity of the -Apennines, was a source of wonder even to his own family. During the long -nights which he devoted to study he never, even in the coldest weather, -permitted himself the indulgence of a fire. - -I may here mention that he continued the same practice to the end of his -life. Even after his elevation to the cardinalate, he could hardly ever -be induced to have recourse to a fire, or even to the little portable -brazier, called _scaldino_, which students in Italy commonly employ, as a -resource against the numbness of the feet and hands produced by the dry -but piercing cold which characterizes the Italian winter. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -[1803-1806.] - - -From the commencement of 1803, those difficulties of the Abate -Mezzofanti’s position, which merely arose from the straitness of his -income, began gradually to diminish. On the 29th of January in that year -he was appointed assistant librarian of the _Istituto_ of Bologna; one of -those munificent literary institutions of which Italy is so justly proud, -founded in the end of the seventeenth century by the celebrated General -Count Marsigli, and enriched by the munificence of many successive -scholars and citizens of Bologna; especially of the great Bolognese Pope, -Benedict XIV. Its collections and museums are among the finest in Italy; -and the library contains above a hundred and fifty thousand volumes. - -But whatever of pecuniary advantage he derived from this appointment, was -perhaps more than counterbalanced by the constant demand upon his time -from the charge of so extensive a library: especially as he confesses -that, up to that period, he had seldom bestowed a thought on the study -of bibliography. To add to the ordinary engagements of librarian, too, -it was determined, sometime after Mezzofanti’s appointment, to prepare -a Catalogue Raisonné, in which the Oriental and Greek department -naturally fell to his share. For the Oriental department of the library -there seems, up to this time, to have been no catalogue, or at least an -exceedingly imperfect and inaccurate one; and as a definite time was -fixed for the completion of the task, it became for Mezzofanti a source -of serious and protracted embarrassment, to which he alludes more than -once in his correspondence. - -A more congenial occupation, however, was offered to him soon afterwards. -In the end of the same year, he was restored to his former position in -the university. On the 4th of November in that year, he was appointed -Professor of Oriental Languages;—a place which he was enabled to hold in -conjunction with his office in the Library of the Institute. - -A few months after his installation, he read at the university, June -23rd, 1804, on the occasion of conferring degrees, the first public -dissertation of which I have been able to discover any record. The -subject was “The Egyptian Obelisks.” The dissertation itself has been -lost; but Count Simone Stratico, of Pavia, to whom we owe the notice of -its delivery, speaks of it as “most judicious and learned,” and replete -with antiquarian erudition.[317] - -The Oriental Professorship in the neighbouring University of Parma, was -at this time held by the celebrated John Bernard de Rossi. Mezzofanti had -long desired to form the acquaintance of this distinguished Orientalist; -and more than once projected a visit to Parma, for the purpose of placing -himself in communication with him on the subject of his favourite -study. His duties as assistant Librarian at length afforded the desired -opportunity. Having occasion to order some of De Rossi’s works from -Parma, he addressed to De Rossi himself a letter which soon led to a warm -and intimate friendship, and was the commencement of an interesting, -although not very frequent, correspondence, which continued, at irregular -intervals, up to the time of De Rossi’s death. Some of Mezzofanti’s -letters to De Rossi, which are preserved in the Library of Parma, have -been kindly placed at my disposal. They are chiefly interesting as -throwing some light on the progress of his studies. - -The first is dated September 15th, 1804— - - _To the Abate John Bernard de Rossi, Professor of Oriental - Languages._ - - _Bologna, September 15, 1804._ - - Most illustrious Signor Abate.—I have long admired and - profited by your rare acquirements, which your learned works - have made known all over Europe; and I have, for some time, - been projecting a visit to Parma, for the double purpose of - tendering to you a personal assurance of my esteem, and of - examining your far-famed library. Finding my hope disappointed - for the present, I take advantage of a favourable opportunity - to offer you, at least in writing, some expression of the - profound respect which I feel for one so distinguished in the - same studies which I myself pursue with great ardour, although - with very inferior success. I am desirous also to procure those - of your works marked nos. 22, 24, 25, and 26, in the catalogue - kindly forwarded by you through Professor Ranzani. Pray give to - the bearer of this letter any of the above numbers which may be - in readiness: he will immediately settle for them. - - May I venture to hope that, for the future, you will allow - me, when any difficulty occurs to me in my Oriental reading, - to have recourse to your profound knowledge of Oriental - literature, and also that you will accept the sincere assurance - of the esteem with which I declare myself - - Your most humble and devoted servant - - D. Joseph Mezzofanti, - Professor of Oriental Languages. - -De Rossi replied by an exceedingly courteous letter, accompanied -by a present of several books connected with Oriental literature, -and manifesting so friendly an interest in the studies of his young -correspondent, that Mezzofanti never afterwards hesitated to consult him -when occasion arose. Their letters, in accordance with the ceremonious -etiquette which characterizes all the correspondence of that period, are -somewhat stiff and formal; but their intercourse was marked throughout by -an active and almost tender interest upon the one side, and a respectful -but yet affectionate admiration upon the other. - -Meanwhile, however, Mezzofanti’s own increasing reputation led to his -being frequently consulted upon difficulties of the same kind. On one -of these—a book in some unknown character which had been sent for his -examination by Monsignor Bevilacqua, a learned prelate at Ferrara—he, -in his turn, consults De Rossi. His letter is chiefly curious as showing -(what will appear strange to our modern philologers) that up to this -date Mezzofanti was entirely unacquainted with Sanscrit. The importance -of that language and the wide range of its relations, which Frederic -Schlegel was almost the first to estimate aright, were not at this time -fully appreciated. - - _To Professor Ab. John Bernard De Rossi._ - - _Bologna, February 4, 1805._ - - The works which I lately received from you have only served - to confirm the estimate of your powers which I had formed - from those with which I was previously acquainted; while the - obliging letter and valuable present which accompanied them, - equally convinced me of the kindness of your heart. May I - hope that this kindness, as well as your profound erudition, - may establish for me a title to claim the permission which I - solicited in my last letter? I venture, therefore, to enclose - to you a printed page in unknown characters, which the owner - of the original, Mgr. Alessandro Bevilacqua of Ferrara, tells - me has been already examined by several savants, but to no - purpose. The book comes originally from Congo;[318] having - been brought thence to Ferrara by a Capuchin of the same - respectable family. Being full of the idea of Sanscrit, to - which I earnestly long to apply myself as soon as I shall find - means for the study, I was at first inclined to suspect that - this might be the Sanscrit character; but this is a mere fancy - of mine, or at best a guess. I look, therefore, to your more - extensive knowledge for a satisfactory solution of the doubt; - and meanwhile pray you to accept the assurance of my sincere - gratitude and esteem. - -This correspondence with De Rossi, also, shows very remarkably that, -however, at a later period of his career, Mezzofanti’s wonderful faculty -of language may have been sharpened by practice into what appears almost -an instinct, his method of study at this time was exact, laborious, and -perhaps even plodding. He appears, from the very first, to have pursued -as a means of study that system of written composition which was the -amusement of his later years; and he occasionally availed himself of -De Rossi’s superior knowledge and experience so far as to submit these -compositions for his judgment and correction. - -It is to one of these he alludes in the following letter:— - - _Bologna, April 15, 1805._ - - I send you a translation in twelve languages of a short Latin - sentence, in the hope that you will kindly correct any mistakes - into which I may have fallen. I have been obliged to write it - almost impromptu (_su due piedi_). I mention this, however, - not to excuse my own blunders, but to throw the blame of - them on those who have forced me to the task. Not having a - single individual within reach with whom to take counsel, I - have been obliged to impose this trouble upon one whose kind - courtesy will make it seem light to him. Accept my thanks in - anticipation of your compliance. - - P. S. I should feel obliged if you could let me have your - observations by return of post. Pray attribute this, perhaps - excessive, liberty to the peculiar circumstances in which I am - placed. - -I have in vain endeavoured to ascertain what were the twelve languages -of this curious essay. As no trace of the copy is now to be found among -De Rossi’s papers, it seems probable that De Rossi, in complying with -the request contained in the letter, returned the paper to the writer -with his own corrections. But whatever these “twelve languages” may have -been, it is certain that, even at the date of this letter, Mezzofanti’s -attainments were by no means confined to that limit. My attention -has been called to a notice of him contained in a curious, though -little-known work, published at Milan in 1806,[319] which describes his -range of languages as far more extensive. - -The work to which I refer is the narrative of an occurrence, which, -although not uncommon even down to a later date, it is difficult -now-a-days,—since Islam has ceased to - - ——————————wield, as of old, her thirsty lance, - And shake her crimson plumage to the skies,— - -to realize as an actual incident of the nineteenth century;[320]—the -adventures of an amateur antiquarian, who was made captive by Corsairs -and carried into Barbary. The hero of this adventure was a Milanese -ecclesiastic, Father Felix Caronni. He embarked at Palermo for Naples, in -a small merchant vessel laden with oranges, but had scarcely quitted the -shore when a pirate-ship hove in sight. The crew, as commonly happened -in such cases, took to the boat and escaped, leaving Father Caronni and -eighteen other passengers to the mercy of the Corsairs, who speedily -overpowered the defenceless little vessel. Caronni, as a subject of the -Italian Republic and a French citizen,[321] would have been secured -against capture; but his passport was in the hands of the captain who had -escaped; and thus, notwithstanding his protestations, he was seized along -with the rest, and, under circumstances of great cruelty and indignity, -they were all carried into Tunis. Here, however, at the reclamation of -the French, supported by the Austrian Consul, Father Caronni was saved -from the fate which awaited the rest of the captives—of being sold into -slavery,—and at the end of three months, (part of which he devoted to the -exploration of the antiquities of Tunis and the surrounding district,) -he was set at liberty and permitted to return to Italy. - -Being at a loss, while preparing the narrative of his captivity for -publication, for a translation of the papers which he received at Tunis -when he was set at liberty, he had recourse to the assistance of the -Abate Mezzofanti, as he explains in the following passage. - -“No sooner,” says he, “had I obtained the _Tiscara_[322] [passport,] than -I made an exact copy of it (with the exception of the Bey’s seal,) in -the precise dimensions of the original. It was not so easy, however, to -obtain a translation of this document in Italy, both because it had been -hastily written with a reed—the instrument which the Moors employ for -that purpose—and because there were introduced into it certain ciphers -which are peculiar to the Arabs of Barbary. These difficulties, however, -were happily overcome, thanks to the exceeding courtesy, as well as the -distinguished learning of the Abate Mezzofanti, Professor of Oriental -Languages in the Institute of Bologna, who is commonly reputed to be -master of more than twenty-four languages, the greater number of which he -speaks with fluency and purity. He has favoured me (in four long letters -which contain as much information as might supply a whole course of -lectures) with a literal and critically exact version of it, accompanied -by copious explanations, as also by a free translation in the following -terms:— - - “‘THERE IS BUT ONE GOD, AND MAHOMET IS HIS PROPHET.’ - - “‘We have liberated Father Felix Caronni. He is hereby - permitted to embark from Goletta for the country of the - Christians, at the intervention of the French Consul, through - the medium of his Dragoman, in consideration of the payment of - ninety-nine sequins mahbub, and by the privilege of the mighty - and generous Hamudah[323] Basha Bey, Ben-Dani, whom may God - prosper! - - “Second Giomada, in the year 1219.’ - -“_Giomada_[324] is the name of the sixth month of the Arabs, and the -year indicated is the year of their Hegira.[325] And, as the Oriental -writing runs in the reverse order to ours, (that is, from right to -left,) it is necessary, in order that the words of the translation may -correspond with those of the original, to take the precaution of reading -it backwards, or, what will answer the same purpose, in a mirror. What -will strike the reader, however, as most strange, (as it did myself when -first the Tiscara was translated for me) is its particularizing the -‘payment of ninety-nine gold mahbubs,’ which, at the rate of nine _lire_ -to each, would make eight hundred and ninety-one Milanese _lire_: whereas -this is utterly false as far as I am personally concerned, and the French -commissary did not give me the least intimation of any payment whatever. -The Abate Mezzofanti suggests with much probability, that it may be a -part of the _stylus curiæ_ of these greedy barbarians to boast in their -piratical diplomacy that no Christian, and still more no ecclesiastic, -has ever been made captive by them without being, even though a Frank, -supposed to be a lawful prize, and consequently without being made ‘to -bleed’ a little.”[326] - -This is the first published notice of Mezzofanti which has come under my -observation; and it is particularly interesting as an early example of -his habit of cultivating not only the principal languages, but the minor -varieties of each. The knowledge that, when he had barely completed his -thirtieth year, he was reputed to be master of _more than twenty-four -languages_, may perhaps prepare us to regard with less incredulity the -marvels which we shall find related of his more advanced career. - -In the autumn of the same year the Abate Mezzofanti paid his -long-intended visit to Parma and De Rossi. The Italians, and especially -the literary men of Italy, are proverbially bad travellers. Magliabecchi -never was outside of the gates of Florence in his life, except on two -occasions;—once as far as Fiesole, which may almost be called a suburb -of the city, and once again to a distance of ten miles. Many an Italian -Professor has passed an entire life without any longer excursion than -the daily walk from his lodgings to the lecture-room. Even the great -geographer, D’Anville, who lived to the age of eighty-five, is said never -to have left his native city, Paris;[327] and yet he was able to point -out many errors in the plan of the Troad made upon the spot by the Comte -de Choiseul. It has been frequently alleged of Mezzofanti, also, as -enhancing still more the marvel of his acquirements in languages, that, -until his fortieth year, he had never quitted his native city. That this -statement is not literally true appears from a letter which he wrote to -the Abate de Rossi, on his return to Bologna, after the visit to which I -have alluded. - - “Pressed as I am, by my many occupations,” he says, November - 11, 1805, “I cannot delay writing at least a few lines, in - grateful acknowledgment of the kindnesses which I received from - you during my happy sojourn in your city. - - “I had been prepared for this, as well by the reports of others - regarding your amiable disposition, as by the courtesy which - I had myself experienced; but all my anticipations had fallen - far short of the reality. Feeling that it is impossible for me - to offer you a suitable acknowledgment, I beg that, although - I have neither words to express it, nor means of giving it - effect, you will believe me to be deeply sensible of my - obligation to you. I shall preserve all your valued presents - with most jealous care. The ‘Persian Anthology’[328] has been - greatly relished by all here who apply to the study of that - language. - - “I shall often have to claim your indulgence for the trouble - which I shall not fail to give you. After the many proofs I - have had of your kindness, I feel that I should be offending - you, were I to ask you to let me hope to reckon myself - henceforward among your friends.” - -The friendly courtesy of the Abate De Rossi rendered Mezzofanti’s stay at -Parma exceedingly agreeable. One of the friends whom he made during this -visit, the learned and venerable Librarian of the Ducal Library of that -city, Cavaliere Angelo Pezzana, still survives, and still speaks with an -affection which borders upon tenderness of the friendship which resulted -from their first meeting, and which was the pride of his later life. -Among the subjects of their conversation, Cavaliere Pezzana particularly -remembers some observations of Mezzofanti on certain affinities between -the Russian and Latin languages, which struck him by their acuteness and -originality. - -A commission which M. Pezzana gave him at his departure led to the -following letter:— - - _Bologna, November 11, 1805._ - - In the hope of being able to execute the little commission you - gave me regarding the Aldine edition of Aristotle, I have put - off writing until I should have searched in our Library.—On - doing so, I find that I have been mistaken, as there is no - copy of that edition here. I avail myself, however, of this - opportunity to renew the assurance of my gratitude for the - numberless kindnesses which you shewed me during the time it - was my good fortune to be in your society;—kindnesses which I - never can forget, and for which it is my most anxious desire - to find some opportunity of making you a return. I beg you - to present my respects to Dr. Tommasini, and to offer to - Signor Bodoni and his lady my acknowledgments for their great - courtesy. Should any occasion arise in which my humble services - can be of use, I shall consider myself happy, if you will - always put aside every idea of my occupations, and will honour - me with your valued commands. Meanwhile accept the assurance of - my sincere esteem and attachment. - -Mezzofanti’s intimacy with the two gentlemen named in this letter, -Tommasini and Bodoni, was lasting and sincere. Tommasini, although an -eminent physician of Parma and an active member of most of the scientific -societies of his day, is little known outside of Italy: but Bodoni, the -celebrated printer and publisher of Parma, whose magnificent editions of -the classics are still among the treasures of every great library, was -a man of rare merit, and a not unworthy representative of the learned -fathers of his craft, the Stephens, the Manuzi, and Plantins of the -palmy days of typography. He was a native of Saluzzo in the kingdom of -Sardinia. His early taste for wood-engraving induced him to visit Rome -for the purpose of study: and he set out in company with a school-fellow, -whose uncle held some office in the Roman court. Bodoni supported himself -and his companion upon the way by the sale of his little engravings, -which are now prized as curiosities in the art. On their arrival, -however, being coldly received by the friend on whom they had mainly -relied, they resolved to return home; but before leaving Rome, Bodoni -paid a visit to the printing-office of the Propaganda, where he had the -good fortune to attract the notice of the Abate Ruggieri, then director -of that great press. He thus obtained employment in the establishment, -and at the same time was permitted to attend the Oriental Schools of the -Sapienza; and thus having learned Hebrew and Arabic, he was employed -exclusively upon the Oriental works printed by the Propaganda. The -excellence and accuracy of the editions of the _Missale Arabico-Coptum_, -and the _Alphabetum Tibetanum_ of Padre Giorgi which Bodoni printed, -excited universal admiration; and when, on occasion of the tragical death -of his friend and patron Ruggieri, he resolved to leave Rome, he was -earnestly invited to settle in England: but he accepted in preference an -invitation to Parma, where he was appointed Director of the Ducal Press, -and where all the well-known master-pieces of his art were successively -produced. Himself a man of much learning, and of a highly cultivated -mind, he enjoyed the friendship of most of the literati of Italy. - - Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined, - A knowledge both of books and human kind— - -his conversation was in the highest degree entertaining and instructive; -and his correspondence, which has been published, is full of interest. -With the Abate De Rossi, who employed his press in all his Oriental -publications,[329] he was for years on terms of the closest intimacy; -and during Mezzofanti’s visit to Parma, he treated De Rossi’s young -disciple with a courtesy which Mezzofanti long and gratefully remembered. -Bodoni’s wife, who, upon his death in 1813, succeeded to his vast -establishment, was, like her husband, highly cultivated, and a most -amiable and excellent woman. - -Among the languages which occupied Mezzofanti at this time, Persian -appears to have received the principal share of his attention. One of the -first presents which he received from De Rossi was, as we have seen, a -“Persian Anthology;” and in a letter to De Rossi, written early in 1806 -(which Cavaliere Pezzana has published in the Modena Journal, _Memorie -di Religione_,) he expresses much anxiety to obtain a copy of the great -Persian classic, Kemal Eddin. - -The same letter, however, contains another request from which it may be -inferred that much of his time was still drawn away from these studies by -his duties as librarian. Speaking of the catalogue then in preparation, -he complains of the miserably defective condition of the library in the -department of Bibliography; and begs of his correspondent to send him the -titles of the _Bibliotheca_ of Hottinger, (perhaps his _Promptuarium, seu -Bibliotheca Orientalis_, Heidelberg, 1658) and that of Wolff, in order -that he may provide himself with these works, as a guide in his task. - -On this subject he speaks more explicitly in a letter of the 3rd of -March, in the same year. After alluding to a commission of De Rossi’s -which he had failed in executing, he proceeds:— - - The preparation of the Catalogue keeps me in constant - occupation, because these Oriental books are for the most part - without the name of the author or the title of the work. Their - value, that is to say their scientific importance, bears no - proportion to the labour they cost; inasmuch as they are all - Grammatical Treatises, books of Law, and such like. However, - should I meet any work of interest, I shall not fail to - communicate it to you; although, I fancy, it will be difficult - to meet with anything that you do not know already. - - I received from Vienna immediately on its publication, the - Grammar of the learned Dombay,[330] who is well known for other - works, particularly upon the language and history of Morocco. - It happens that I have got two copies of it; and I have set one - of them apart for you, for which you may perhaps give me in - exchange one of your own duplicates. It contains the Grammar - arranged after the manner of the Latin Grammarians; the rules - of Persian according to Meninski,[331] with this advantage, - that here they are given in consecutive order, whereas in - Meninski they are found mixed up with those of the Arabic and - Turkish. Your friend, M. Silvestre de Sacy, reviewed it in - the _Magazin Encyclopedique_, and took exception to Dombay’s - reducing the Persian to the system of the Latin Grammar. I hope - shortly to receive the other from Leipsic, as also the tales of - Nizami, in Persian and Latin, printed by Wolff, and published - by L. Hill, who promised for the same year, 1802, an edition of - the _Divan_ of Hafiz.[332] - - I am only waiting for a safe opportunity to forward your books. - We cannot fail of one in the coming spring. As to the “Oriental - Anthology,” I have given it in charge to the courier as far as - Milan, but have not yet heard intelligence of it. - - Book-buying is undoubtedly very troublesome, and the least - disagreeable part of it is the money the books cost, although - in Oriental works I always find this excessive. I beg you not - to spare me whenever any occasion offers in which my services - may be useful. - -The Abate de Rossi had requested to be furnished with a note of the -principal Oriental MSS. of the Bologna collection; but Mezzofanti’s -labour in preparing the general Catalogue was so great, and the time -fixed for its completion was so entirely inadequate, that, for a -considerable time, he was unable to comply with his friend’s request. -It is to this he alludes in the following letter, dated May 11, 1806. -After apologizing for the delay in forwarding the book referred to in the -letter of March 3rd, he proceeds:— - - My labour at the Catalogue still continues, nor can I hope at - the period appointed for its close, to have done more than - merely sketch it out;—that is, we shall have nothing entered - but the bare titles of the works. This, however, in itself, - is a task so difficult in our Oriental MSS., that, up to the - present time, it has never been satisfactorily done. Besides - the Oriental books, I have also to deal with the Greek; and all - must be in readiness within the coming month. The truth is that - I should require a year at least to give a proper shape to my - labour, and in the beginning my impression was that it would - require two. And in my present difficulty, what gives me most - pain is that I am not able to send you, as early as I could - wish, the note which you have often expressed a wish to obtain; - but I shall send it the very first moment in my power. - - I have received your new work,[333] for which I beg you to - accept my best thanks. I did not write at the moment, knowing - you do not like very frequent letters; I have besides too much - respect for time devoted like yours to the honour of Italy, on - which your works in Oriental literature have shed a lustre. I - long nevertheless for a fitting opportunity to prove to you the - sincerity of my gratitude. - -Under this constant and protracted labour Mezzofanti’s health began -to give way. His chest was seriously threatened during the summer of -1806, and had it not been that he fortunately obtained an extension of -the time allotted for the completion of his task at the Catalogue, it -is not unlikely that his constitution, naturally weak, might have been -permanently enfeebled. Family cares, too, formed no inconsiderable part -of his burden. The health of his mother, which had for a long time been -very uncertain, was completely broken down. She was now entirely blind. -For many weeks of this season he was in daily apprehension of her death; -and, in the pressure of his engagements, his hours of attendance on her -sick bed were subtracted from the time hitherto devoted to rest, already -sufficiently curtailed. - -In the midst of these cares and occupations, Mezzofanti was surprised -by a flattering invitation to transfer his residence to Paris, with a -promise of patronage and distinction from the Emperor Napoleon, who was -at this time eagerly engaged in plans for the development of the literary -and artistic glories of his capital. More than one of Mezzofanti’s -countrymen were already in the enjoyment of high honours at Paris. First -among them may be named Volta, for many years Professor of Natural -Philosophy in the University of Pavia. More pliant than his great -fellow-discoverer, Galvani, or perhaps more favourably circumstanced as -not being, like him, a member of a Papal University, he had escaped the -proscription which brought Galvani to his grave—one of those victims of -loyalty whom Petrarch declares - - ————assai più belli - Con la lor povertà, che Mida o Crasso - Con l’oro, ond’ a virtù furon ribelli;— - -Volta was called from Pavia to Paris, where he was rewarded with -distinctions, emoluments, titles, and, more flattering than all, with the -personal notice and patronage of the great conqueror himself, who was -often present at his experiments, and displayed a warm interest in the -results to which they led.[334] - -Such were at this period the tempting rewards of scientific or literary -eminence in France. Moreover, Count Marescalchi, in whose family -Mezzofanti had acted as tutor and librarian during the years of his -deprivation, was now Resident Minister of the Kingdom of Italy at Paris. -The Count’s intercourse with Mezzofanti was but little interrupted by -their separation; and, even during his residence in Paris, the latter -continued to correspond with him; chiefly on matters connected with the -education of his children, or with the completion or extension of his -noble library. The extent of their intimacy indeed may be inferred from -one of Mezzofanti’s letters to the Count, dated September 16, 1806, -in which we find him freely employing the services of the minister in -procuring books at Paris, not only for himself but for his literary -friends in Bologna.[335] - -It was through this Count Marescalchi that the invitation to Paris was -conveyed to Mezzofanti, and it cannot be doubted that it was accompanied -by a warm recommendation from the Count himself. No trace of this formal -correspondence is now discoverable; but probably far more interesting, -as it is certainly far more characteristic, than the official letter or -reply, is the following playful letter to one of Count Marescalchi’s -sons, Carlino (Charlie), Mezzofanti’s former pupil—now the representative -of the house—who had written a special letter, to add the expression of -his own wishes to those of his father, that his old instructor should -join them once again at Paris. - - _Bologna, September 16, 1806._ - - But three letters, dearest Charlie, in an entire year—two - from Lyons, and one from Paris—to cheer my regrets in being - separated from you! If I were to take this as the measure of - your love for me, I should indeed have reason to be sad. But I - have abundant other proofs of your feelings in my regard; and - at all events, I am not one who can afford to be too rigid in - insisting upon the frequency of correspondence, unless I wish - to furnish grave grounds of complaint against myself. - - Few, however, as your letters have been, I am deeply grateful - for their warm and affectionate sentiments, which carry with - them such an evidence of sincerity as to leave me, even when - you do not write, no ground for doubting what your feelings - still are towards me. I am not sure whether in your regard I - shall be equally fortunate; for I am fully sensible that I have - not the power of infusing into what I write all the warmth and - sincerity that I really feel. However, you are not dependent - on my words, in order to be satisfied of the truth of my - affection; and, knowing it as you do, even a lesser token of it - than this will suffice to convince you. - - I am still here at Bologna following the same old round of - occupations. Nor am I dissatisfied with my lot, for I am quite - sensible of my inability to take a loftier flight. I feel that - the shade suits me best. Were I to go to Paris, I should be - obliged to set myself up upon some candlestick, where I should - only give out a faint and flickering gleam, which would soon - die utterly away. Nevertheless I am not the less grateful for - your advice; though I perceive that you are dissatisfied with - me because I am such a little fellow. - - A thousand, thousand greetings to your dear little sisters. - Renew my remembrance to your father, and when you have an - occasional moment of leisure from your tasks, pray bestow it - upon - - Your sincere friend, - - D. JOSEPH MEZZOFANTI. - -Besides the unaffected modesty and the distrust of his own fitness for -a prominent position (even with such advantages as those offered to him -at Paris,) which are expressed in this letter, the Abate Mezzofanti -was also moved to decline the invitation, both by affection for his -native city and love of its university life (to which we shall find him -looking back with fondness even after his elevation to the cardinalate,) -and by unwillingness to part from his family, to whom he was tenderly -attached. To the latter he had always felt himself bound by duty as well -as by affection. The expense of the education of his sister’s children, -who at this time, (as appears from a little Memoir in the archives of -the University drawn up in 1815,) were seven in number, amounted to a -considerable sum. They, as well as their parents, still continued to -reside in his house; and the same Memoir alludes to another near relative -who was at least partially dependent upon him for support. - -To these children, indeed, he was as a father. Cavaliere Minarelli, in -the interesting note already cited, describes him as “most affectionately -devoted to them, and uniting in his manners the loving familiarity of -a friend with the graver authority of an instructor.” In his brief -intervals of leisure from business or study, he often joined them in -their little amusements. Without the slightest trace of austerity, -he generally managed to give their amusements, as far as possible, a -religious character. He usually made the festivals memorable to them by -some extra indulgence or entertainment. He encouraged and directed their -childish tastes in the embellishment of their little oratories, or in -those well-known Christmas devices of Catholic children, the preparation -of the “Crib of the Infant Jesus,” or the decoration of the “Christmas -Tree.” He hoarded his little resources in order to procure for them -improving and instructive books. He composed simple odes and sonnets for -the several festivals, which it was his greatest enjoyment to hear them -recite. The simplicity of his disposition, and a natural fondness for -children which was one of the characteristics even of his later life, -made all this easy to him. He was always ready, if not to take a part, at -least to manifest an interest, in the pleasures of his young friends. In -the carnival especially, when amusement seems, for a time, to form the -serious business of every Italian household, he was never wanting; and, -on one memorable occasion, he actually composed a little comedy, to be -acted by his nephews and nieces for the humble family circle. - -During the whole winter of 1806-7 his time was still occupied in the -uncongenial labour of compiling the Catalogue. - -On the 25th of September, he writes to the Abate De Rossi, apologizing -for delay in replying to a letter received from him. - - “A complication of unfortunate accidents has, up to this - moment, prevented me from answering your kind letter of last - July. My poor mother has frequently, during the summer, been - in extreme danger of death. My own chest, too, has more than - once been threatened, and is still far from strong. All this, - however, does not save me from a feeling of remorse at having - been so tardy towards one whose scientific reputation, as well - as his courteous manners, entitle him to so much consideration. - My labour, as you say, is not yet over. The task, as I - had indeed anticipated from the beginning, has proved an - exceedingly difficult one. As an evidence of the difficulty I - need only mention that the celebrated Giuseppe Assemani, in - the similar work which he undertook,[336] has made numerous - mistakes, having in one instance given no less than six - different titles to seven copies of the same work. This great - orientalist, with all his learning, could not command the time - necessary for so troublesome a task as that of ascertaining the - titles and authors of books which are quite unknown and often - imperfect. For my part, I resolved from the beginning that I - would not, willingly at least, add to the other deficiencies of - which I am conscious, that of haste and insufficient time. _Nam - quo minus ingenio possum, subsidio mihi diligentiam comparavi_; - and the condescension of his Serene Highness has in the end - relieved me, by extending until April the time allowed for the - completion of the task. The grammarians, rhetoricians, poets, - prosodians, logicians, and theologians, have taken up all my - time hitherto; in the course of the next two months, I hope to - complete the enumeration of the other authors; and then I shall - at last fulfil my promise of sending you, when occasion serves, - whatever I think may interest you.” - -De Rossi, in his letter, to which this is a reply, had put some -questions regarding the contents of the octavo edition of D’Herbelot’s -_Bibliothèque Orientale_, the preface of which had contained a promise -of many important improvements. Mezzofanti, referring to these promised -additions, goes on to say, “In the articles which I have compared, I -have only found a few verbal corrections. But in the preface, we are -promised additional articles, drawn from the narratives of travellers -subsequent to D’Herbelot. From this promise you will be able to infer -what information you may expect to derive from the edition, and whether -it is likely to be useful for your purpose. I have not yet received -the supplement, which was to contain certain articles which have been -postponed for reasons explained in the preface. Perhaps the reason of its -not having been printed, may be, that the articles in question, being of -use to orientalists alone, may be found by them in the former editions. - -“As it would be no small distinction for the collection of Oriental MSS. -belonging to this Royal Library of ours, if among them there should be -found any deserving of a place amongst the MSS. cited in your dictionary, -I shall endeavour, in the hope that it may prove so, to complete my task -as speedily as possible, so as to send you at least an index, out of -which you may yourself choose the name of any author whom you shall judge -deserving of notice. - -“I believe Dombay’s work has been published. I have the title, -‘_Geschichte der Mauritan. Könige; aus dem Arabischen übersetzt_’;[337] -but without date or place. I shall write to Vienna as soon as I can, to -order it, if it should be published. I have made a good many interesting -acquisitions lately; as for instance, _Albucasis ‘De Chirurgia.’_[338] -Oxonii, 1778. ‘_Maured Allatafet Jemaleddini filii Togri Bardii; seu -Rerum Aegyptiacarum Annales ab Anno C. 971 ad 1453_’;[339] several -‘_Anthologias_’ and ‘_Chrestomathias_;’ one of which, that of Rink and -Vater, has at the end a _Bibliotheca Arabica_ continued up to 1802; and -some other books.” - - * * * * * - -At this date, Mezzofanti’s correspondence with De Rossi is interrupted; -and, although there appears to have been a pretty regular interchange of -correspondence between them for some years longer,[340] no further letter -has been found among those of De Rossi’s papers which are deposited in -the library of Parma, except one written in the year 1812. - -Scanty as are the details supplied by those which are preserved, they, -at least, afford some insight into the process by which the writer’s -extraordinary faculty was developed and perfected. However acute and -almost instinctive this faculty may have been, it is plain from these -letters, that it was at this time most systematically and laboriously -cultivated. However much Mezzofanti may have owed to nature, it is -certain, that for all the practical results of his great natural gifts -he was indebted to his own patient and almost plodding industry; and -it may cheer the humble student in the long and painful course through -which alone he can aspire to success, to find that even this prodigy of -language was forced to tread the same laborious path;—to see the anxious -care with which he collected and consulted grammars, dictionaries, -manuals, reading books, and other similar commonplace appliances of the -study; and to learn, that, with all his unquestioned and unquestionable -genius, he did not consider himself above the drudgery at which even less -gifted students are but too apt to murmur or repine. - -It may be added that the toilsome practice of writing out translations -from one language into another which these letters disclose, was -continued by Mezzofanti through his entire career of study, although in -his latter years he pursued it more as an amusement than as a serious -task. - -It is hard, in ordinary cases, to infer from such performances the exact -degree of proficiency in the language which they should be presumed -to indicate. Some translations are only the fruit of long and careful -study.[341] On the contrary, there are instances on record in which -excellent translations have been produced by persons possessing a very -slight knowledge of the original. Thus Monte, the author of the best -Italian translation of Homer, was utterly unacquainted with Greek;[342] -Halley, without knowing a word of Arabic, was able to guess his way, -(partly by mathematical reasoning, partly by the aid of a Latin version, -which, however, only contained about one-tenth of the entire work,) -through an Arabic translation of Apollonius _De Sectione Rationis_;[343] -and M. Arnaud, the first French translator of Lalla Rookh, did not know a -word of the English language.[344] - -But on all these points Mezzofanti’s fame is beyond suspicion. His -translations, at least in his later life, were at once produced with -the utmost freedom and rapidity, and are universally acknowledged to -have been models of verbal correctness; and in most instances where the -same passage is translated into many languages, the versions display a -remarkable mastery over the peculiar forms and idioms of each. - -This wonderful success must be ascribed, no doubt, to his early and -systematic exercise in translation, of which the specimen submitted to De -Rossi is but one example. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -[1807-1814.] - - -The _Catalogue Raisonné_ of the Oriental and Greek manuscripts was not -completed until 1807, having thus absorbed the greater part of Abate -Mezzofanti’s time during two years. - -A large proportion of the Oriental MSS. had never even been entered upon -the ordinary library catalogue, and no attempt at all had been made -to describe them accurately, much less to register their character or -contents. Very many of them too, as we learn from Mezzofanti’s letters, -were imperfect; and a still more considerable number wanted at least the -title and the name of the author. It was no trivial labour, therefore, -to examine the entire collection; to decide on the name, the age, and -the authorship of each; to describe their contents; and to reduce them -all into their respective classes. For most of these particulars the -compiler of the catalogue was utterly without a guide. It is true that -Joseph Assemani’s catalogue of the Oriental MSS. of the Vatican, and -the catalogue of those of the Medicean Library at Florence by his -nephew Stephen Evodius, were in some cases available. But many of the -Bologna MSS. are not to be found in either catalogue; and for all these -Mezzofanti was of course compelled to rely altogether on his own lights. - -The catalogue, as drawn up by him, is still preserved, and, -notwithstanding these disadvantages, is described as a highly creditable -performance, and “a valuable supplement to the labours of Talmar and -the Assemanis;”[345] and at all events it was to his long and laborious -researches while engaged in its preparation, that he owed that minute -familiarity with the whole literature of the East, ancient and modern, -which, as we shall see, was a subject of wonder even to learned orientals -themselves. - -During the year 1807, an opportunity occurred for testing practically -how far the reputation which he had acquired corresponded with his real -attainments. On the outbreak of hostilities between the Porte and Russia -in that year, the Russian ambassador, Italinski, withdrew (not without -some risk and difficulty)[346] from Constantinople, and, being conveyed -on board the British ship of war, Canopus, to Malta, afterwards made his -way to Ancona. While the ambassador remained at Ancona, the chancellor of -the embassy, Angelo Timoni, who was of Bolognese origin, came to visit -his native city; accompanied by Matteo Pisani, the official interpreter, -who was one of the best linguists of his time, and especially a perfect -master of all the modern languages of the East. As they resided, during -their stay at Bologna, in the house of his friend, Dr. Santagata, their -visit was a severe ordeal for Mezzofanti, who was constantly in their -society; but he withstood it triumphantly; and Santagata records their -wonder and delight to find that, without ever having visited the East, -or mixed in Oriental society, the Bolognese professor had nevertheless -attained a “mastery over the many and various languages, especially -Oriental ones, in which they tried him, and that the marvellous and all -but inconceivable accounts which they had received regarding him, proved -to be not only credible but actually true.”[347] - -A great and lasting mortification nevertheless soon afterwards befel -Mezzofanti, in the unexpected deprivation of his beloved professorship. -The circumstances which accompanied his removal have not been fully -detailed, but there is enough in the history of the period to supply an -intelligible explanation. The conflict of Napoleon with the Holy See -was just then approaching its crisis. From the beginning of this year -the French troops had occupied Rome. Two cardinal secretaries of state -had been forcibly ejected from office. The Pope was a prisoner in his -own palace and his authority was completely superseded. Now upon these -and the many similar outrages to which the venerable Pontiff was daily -subjected, the opinions of Mezzofanti were no secret; and there can be -no doubt that the determination of the Government to remove him from -the university was mainly influenced by this knowledge; although in -deference to public opinion, and to the universal feeling of respect -with which he was regarded, they abstained from formally depriving him -of his professorship. His removal was effected indirectly by a decree, -dated November 15, 1808, by which the Oriental professorship itself was -suppressed. - -Although a pension, and as it would seem, not a very illiberal one, -was assigned to him, he felt very deeply this exclusion from a career -so congenial to his tastes. He continued nevertheless, as before, to -instruct pupils privately in these and other languages; and although, as -to details, the history of his own studies at this time is a complete -blank, yet from his known habits it may reasonably be presumed that when -the first feeling of mortification had subsided, the ultimate result of -his release from the duties of his chair, was to direct his untiring -energies into new fields of research; and it seems to have been during -this interval that he first gave his attention to the Sanscrit and other -Indian languages;—a family which had till then been but little cultivated -except in England, but to whose vast importance, as well as widely -extended philological relations, Frederic Schlegel[348] had just awakened -the attention of the learned throughout continental Europe. - - * * * * * - -From the date of this second deprivation, till the year 1812, his quiet -and uniform course of life presents hardly a single interesting incident. - -In June, 1810, his mother died. But her advanced age and infirm health -had long prepared him for this bereavement. She died on the feast of St. -Aloysius (June 21,) in her seventy-third year. - -The only detail regarding his personal occupations, which I have been -able to discover, is derived from a letter, dated November 30th, -1811,[349] to his friend Pezzana, at Parma, which exhibits him again -engaged in the drudgery of compiling a catalogue—that of the library -of Count Marescalchi. Pezzana had published, some time before, a short -bibliographical essay on two very rare editions of Petrarch, which are -still preserved in the Parma Collection. Mezzofanti, while engaged in -cataloguing the Marescalchi library, discovered a copy of one of these -editions, and at once wrote to communicate the fact to Pezzana. - -I may also mention, what, in a life so uneventful, must claim to be -regarded as an event—a short journey which he made to Modena and Mantua. -Joseph Minarelli, the eldest of his sister’s sons, was summoned to -Modena in 1813, to ballot in the conscription which followed the terrible -campaign of 1812, so fatal to the armies of France. Signora Minarelli -was naturally much alarmed at the chance of her son’s being drawn in the -conscription, and in consideration for her anxiety, his uncle accompanied -him to Modena upon the occasion. - -It becomes especially difficult henceforward to follow the history of his -studies. The literary friends of this part of his career;—his colleagues -in the University; Ranzani; Caturegli, the astronomer; the eminent -botanist, Felippo Re; his fellow-pupil and fellow-teacher, Clotilda -Tambroni; Schiassi; Magistrini; and others of less note, who could have -supplied information, not only as to his habits and pursuits, but as to -the actual stages of his progress, are long since dead. The letters of -Pietro Giordani,[350] however, recently published, may, in some measure, -fill up the blank; not, it is true, as to the details of his biography, -but at least in so far as regards the opinion entertained in Bologna of -his character and acquirements. Indeed the testimony of Giordani is less -open to exception than any which could have emanated from the personal -friends of Mezzofanti. Giordani had entered the Benedictine congregation, -and had even received the order of sub-deaconship; but on the outbreak -of the Revolution, he had renounced the monastic life, cast aside the -Benedictine habit, and thrown himself into the arms of the revolutionary -party in Italy. Under the French rule at Bologna, he obtained as the -reward of his principles, the place of Assistant Librarian, and also that -of Deputy Professor of Latin and Italian Eloquence. Hence it will easily -be believed that his relations with the Papal party in the University -were by no means friendly; and, as he had had with the Abate Mezzofanti -himself (as I learn from an interesting letter of M. Libri which shall be -inserted hereafter,) some personal misunderstandings, he may be presumed -to have been but little disposed to over-rate the qualifications of an -antagonist. It is no mean evidence of Mezzofanti’s merit, therefore, that -Giordani has specially excepted him from the very disparaging estimate -which he expresses regarding the literary men of Italy at this time. -“I have held but little intercourse with literary men,” he writes to -his friend Lazzaro Papi, “finding them commonly possessed of but little -learning and a great deal of passion. Here, however, I have met an -exception to the rule—the Abate Mezzofanti—a man not only of the utmost -piety, but of attainments truly wonderful and all but beyond belief. You -must, of course, have heard of him; but indeed he well deserves a wider -fame than he enjoys, for the number of languages which he knows most -perfectly, although this is the least part of his learning. Nevertheless, -such is his excessive modesty, that he lives here in obscurity, and I -must add, to the disgrace of the age, in poverty.”[351] - -Nor is Giordani’s report to be regarded as one of those vague panegyrics, -which, when Mezzofanti’s fame was established, each new visitor was -wont to re-echo. Giordani is not only well-known as one of the purest -Italian writers of the century, but enjoyed the highest reputation as a -critical scholar; and the subject on which, in another of his letters, -he defers to the judgment of Mezzofanti—a delicate question of Greek -criticism—was precisely that on which he himself was best qualified to -pronounce. In a letter to the Abate Canova (Feb 3, 1812,) he mentions a -conjecture that had recently interested him very much; viz., that the -great Roman architect, Vitruvius, was a Greek, although he wrote in -Latin. His chief argument is based upon Vitruvius’s Latinity, in which -he detects traces of foreign idiom. But, lest he should yield too much -to fancy, he had appealed to the judgment of some of his colleagues, and -he communicates the result to his correspondent. One of the persons thus -consulted was Mezzofanti. “I should not rely on my own judgment,” says -Giordani, “had I not convinced Cicognara and Mezzofanti that it is right. -The authority of the latter is the more important, because my argument -rests chiefly on the style, in every line of which I find impressed, even -where the subject is not technical, traces of halting [_storpiato_] and -ill-translated Greek; and you know what a judge Mezzofanti is of this -point.”[352] - -In a letter to another friend, Count Leopoldo Cicognara, (since known -as the biographer of Canova)[353] Giordani reports the sequel of this -discussion, which confirms in a very remarkable manner, Giordani’s -judgment of Mezzofanti’s critical sagacity. Mezzofanti had at first -assented to Giordani’s conjecture; but on a closer examination he -discovered, that what Giordani had considered the Grecisms of Vitruvius’s -style, were, in reality, but _translations from various Greek authors_, -from whom Vitruvius largely borrows, and whom he actually enumerates in -the preface of the seventh book. Mezzofanti further pointed out a phrase -in the same preface which at once put an end to the discussion, and the -discovery of which, as Giordani justly observes, in itself “indicated an -inquiring and critical mind.” Vitruvius, in speaking of the Latin writers -upon his art, as contradistinguished from the Greek, calls them “antiqui -_nostri_.”[354] - -To the same friend, Count Cicognara, Giordani in a previous letter, -dated January 30th, 1812, had written of Mezzofanti’s own peculiar -faculty of languages, in terms of almost rapturous admiration. “You -know Mezzofanti,” he says;—“Mezzofanti—the rarest, most unheard of, -most inconceivable of living men. I call him, and he is, the man of all -nations and all ages. By Jove! he appears as though he had been born in -the beginning of the world, and, like St. Anthony, had lived in every -age and in every country!”[355] - -In connexion with this very remarkable testimony to the accuracy of -Mezzofanti’s knowledge of Greek, I may mention (although it more properly -belongs to a later period of his life) an amusing anecdote illustrative -of his accomplishments as a Latinist, which is recorded by Dr. Santagata, -and the hero of which was M. Bucheron, Professor of Latin Literature -in the University of Turin, and one of the most celebrated classical -philologists of modern Italy. M. Bucheron came to Bologna, from some -cause strongly prepossessed against Mezzofanti, and disposed to regard -him in the light of a mere literary charlatan, of showy but superficial -acquirements. Of his Latinity—especially in all that bears upon the -critical niceties of the language, and the numberless philological -questions regarding it which have arisen among modern scholars, M. -Bucheron entertained the lowest possible estimate;—considering it, in -truth, impossible, that one whose attention had been divided over so many -languages as fame ascribed to Mezzofanti, _could be_ solidly grounded -in any of them. He resolved, therefore, to put the Abate’s Latinity -to a rigorous test; and came to the library prepared with a number of -questions, bearing upon the niceties of the Latin language, which he -proposed to introduce, as it were casually, in his expected conversation. -He was presented to Mezzofanti by his friend, Michele Ferrucci, Librarian -of the University of Pisa, from whom, I may add, Dr. Santagata received -the account of their interview. The conversation, as Bucheron had -pre-determined, began upon some common-place subject: but in a short time -he artfully contrived to turn it upon those topics on which he desired -to probe his companion. The trial was a most animated one. From a series -of obscure and difficult questions of Latin philology, they passed to a -variety of oriental, historical, and archæological topics. At the moment -when the interest of the conversation was at its very height, Ferrucci -was unfortunately called away by business; but the result may be judged -from the sequel. On his return, after a somewhat lengthened absence, he -met Bucheron coming from the Library. - -“Well,” said he, “what do you think of Mezzofanti?” - -“_Per Bacco!_” replied the astounded Piedmontese. “_Per Bacco! é il -Diavolo!_”[356] - -His celebrity, indeed, was by this time universally established. With all -his unaffected humility; with the full consciousness (which he expressed -in all simplicity and truth to his young friend, Carlino Marescalchi) -that he was “best fitted for the shade”—he had insensibly grown into -one of the notabilities of Bologna. He was constantly visited and -consulted, especially by Oriental students, from foreign countries. What -is more remarkable, more than one Jewish scholar appears in the record -of his visitors. Among the papers of the Abate De Rossi is a letter -of this period (March 18th, 1812,) in which Mezzofanti introduces to -him a certain “Signor Moise Ber;” and, notwithstanding the variety of -orthography, (a variety quite natural in an Italian letter,) there can be -no doubt that this Signor Moise Ber was no other than Rabbi Moses Beer -of the Israelite University of Rome, whose Orations and Discourses have -since been published.[357] - - * * * * * - -Mezzofanti’s opportunities of conversing with foreigners were much -increased by his becoming permanently attached to the Library of the -University (with which the Library of the Institute had been incorporated -by the French) as Deputy-Librarian. This appointment he received on the -28th of March, in 1812. As the chief librarian at this time was the -Abate Pozzetti, who, like Mezzofanti, was an honorary professor of the -University, and one of his most valued friends, the appointment was -especially agreeable to him: and, independently of its other advantages, -it became for him, as I said, from the constant passing and re-passing of -strangers from every country, a school in which he was able to exercise -himself, almost hourly, in every department of his multilingual studies. - -The late Lord Guilford, who was Chancellor of the University of Corfu, -made his acquaintance during one of his visits to Bologna; and on every -subsequent occasion on which he passed through that city, Mezzofanti was -invariably his guest, accompanied by all the Greeks who chanced to be at -the time students of the University. - -As his reputation extended, the literary societies of the various cities -of Italy were naturally desirous to number him among their members. He -was already an associate of the _Societá Colombina_ at Florence, and of -the “Society of Letters, Sciences, and Arts,” at Leghorn; and he received -about this time, the decoration of the Royal Order of the Two Sicilies. -The only literary society, however, in whose proceedings he took an -active part, was the Scientific Academy of the Institute of his native -city. It has been commonly supposed that he rarely, if at all, appeared -in the literary arena, and it is true that he has not left behind him -anything at all commensurate with his reputation; but he frequently read -papers, chiefly on philological subjects, in the Bolognese Academy. The -first of these which is noticed by Dr. Santagata was read on the 22nd of -July, 1813; and another, “On the Symbolic Paintings of the Mexicans,” was -delivered in the following session, on the 23rd of March, 1814. Owing -to his early association with several ex-Jesuit American Missionaries -who had settled in Bologna, he had long felt an interest in the curious -subject of Mexican Antiquities. Among his MSS., which still remain in the -possession of the Cavaliere Minarelli at Bologna, is a Mexican Calendar, -drawn up by Mezzofanti’s own hand, and illustrated with fac-similes of -the original pictures and symbolical representations from the pencil of -his niece, Signora Anna Minarelli; but of the paper read in the Academy, -no trace has been found. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -[1814-1817.] - - -The year 1814, so memorable in general history, was also an important one -in the humble fortunes of the Abate Mezzofanti. - -The success of the papal cause in Italy naturally opened a new career to -the men against whom fidelity to the papal interest had long closed the -ordinary avenues to distinction. - -In the close of 1813, the reverses, which, from the disastrous Russian -expedition, had succeeded each other with startling rapidity, at length -forced upon Napoleon the conviction that he had overcalculated the -endurance of the people of France. He now learned, when too late, that -the reckless expenditure of human blood with which his splendid successes -were purchased, had brought sorrow and suffering to every fireside in -every hamlet through his wide empire, and that the enormous levies which -he still continued to demand, and which were called out only to perish -in the fruitless contest with his destiny, consummated the popular -discontent. No longer, therefore, in a position to brave the public -reprobation with which his treatment of Pius VII. had been visited, -he found it necessary to restore the semblance of those more friendly -relations which he had maintained with him in the less openly ambitious -stage of his career. Accordingly, although among the provisions of the -extorted Concordat of Fontainebleau, there was none to which Napoleon, -in his secret heart, clung more tenaciously than the renunciation which -it implied on the part of the Pontiff of the sovereignty of Rome, he -found it necessary, notwithstanding, to yield so far to public sympathy -as to issue an order for the Pope’s immediate return to Italy, dated the -22nd of January, 1814. This measure, nevertheless, had evidently been -extorted from his fears; and, as he desired nothing from it beyond the -effect which he expected it to produce on the public mind, he contrived -that upon various pretences the Pope’s progress should be interrupted -and delayed. For a short time, too, the varying success with which the -memorable campaign of 1814 commenced; the opening of the Congress of -Chatillon; the conclusion of the armistice of Lusigny;—all served to -re-animate his sinking hopes. Thus the Pope was detained day after day, -week after week, in the south of France, until the close of the Emperor’s -death struggle, by the capitulation of Paris; when Pius VII. was at -length set free to return to his capital, by an order of the provisional -government, dated the 2nd of April, 1814. - -Within a few days after the communication of this order, Pius VII. -reached Bologna. Among the ecclesiastics who there hastened to offer -homage to their restored sovereign, there were few who could approach -his throne with a fuller consciousness of unsullied loyalty, or who could -present more unequivocal evidences of the truth and sincerity of the -allegiance which they tendered, than the ex-Professor Mezzofanti, driven -from his chair because he refused to compromise his loyalty even by an -indirect recognition of the Anti-Papal government, and only restored, -when, after the concordat of 1801, the occupation of the Legations had -been acquiesced in by the Pontificial government itself, he had a second -time suffered the penalty of loyalty in a similar deprivation. It will -easily be believed, therefore, that, in the more than gracious reception -accorded to him by the Pontiff, a feeling of grateful recognition of -his fidelity and of sympathy with the sacrifices which he had made, was -mingled with undisguised admiration of his talents and acquirements. - -Hence the first impulse of this munificent pope was to attach to his -own immediate service a scholar who was at once eminent for learning, -distinguished by piety, by priestly zeal, and by loyalty in the hour of -trial, unstained even by the slightest compromise. The re-construction of -the various Roman tribunals and congregations which, during the captivity -of the Pope and Cardinals, had been, for the most part, suspended, -suggested an opportunity of employing, with marked advantage for the -public service, the peculiar talents which seemed almost idly wasted in -the obscurity of a provincial capital. The halls and public offices of -Rome had been the school or the arena of all the celebrated linguists of -the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and the very constitution of -the congregation and college, “De Propaganda Fide,” appeared specially to -invite the services of one so eminent in that department. Accordingly, -Pius VII. surprised the modest Abate by an invitation to accompany him -to Rome, and proposed for his acceptance the important office of the -secretaryship of the Propaganda[358]—one of those so called _poste -cardinalizie_, which constitute the first step in the career towards the -cardinalate. - -Mezzofanti was deeply affected by this mark of the favour and confidence -of his sovereign. Independently, too, of these flattering considerations, -and of the advantages of rank and fortune which it involved, the mere -residence in Rome, and especially in the Propaganda—the great polyglot -centre of the ancient and modern world—had many attractions for a -student of language so enthusiastic and indefatigable. It was a proud -thought, moreover, to follow in the track of Ubicini, and Giorgi, and -Piromalli, and the Assemani’s. But his modesty was proof against all -these temptations. He shrank from the responsibility which this great -office involved;—and, with the every expression of gratitude for so -distinguished an honour, he declined to exchange the quiet and seclusion -of his life at Bologna, for the more brilliant, but far more anxious -position held out for his acceptance at Rome. - -Not content, however, with personal solicitations, the Pope employed -Cardinal Consalvi to use his influence with Mezzofanti. But it was to no -purpose. The humble Abate could not be induced to leave his native city. -The only mark of favour, therefore, which remained at the disposal of -the pontiff, was one which Mezzofanti prized infinitely beyond the more -solid, as well as more brilliant, offer which awaited him at Rome,—his -re-establishment in the Professorship of Oriental Languages. He was -formally restored on the 28th of April, 1814,[359] a few days after the -departure of the Pope from Bologna. - -There is no doubt that on this occasion, as on that of his declining -the invitation to Paris several years earlier, he was much influenced -by those considerations, arising from his relations to the children of -his sister, to which I already alluded, his presence in Bologna being -now more than ever necessary for the completion of their education. -Indeed this was now the chief family duty which bound him to Bologna; for -his father, who had survived his mother by several years, died, at the -advanced age of eighty-one, in April, 1814, during the visit of Pius VII. -to that city. - - * * * * * - -The few notices of the Abate Mezzofanti which we have met up to -this period, are derived almost exclusively from Bolognese, or at -least Italian sources. During the long continental war, the ordinary -intercourse with Italy was, in great part, suspended, and few tourists, -especially of the literary class, visited the north of Italy. But the -cessation of hostilities in the spring of 1814, re-opened the long -interrupted communication, and the annual stream of visitors to Rome -and Naples again began to flow, with its wonted regularity, through the -cities of the north. Few of the tourists who published an account of -their travels at this date failed to devote some of their pages to one -who had now become one of the chief “sights” of his native city. It is -hardly necessary to say, that, in some instances, these accounts are but -the echoes of popular fame, and exhibit the usual amount of ignorance, -credulity, and superficial information, which characterise “travellers’ -tales.” But very many, also, will be found to contain the judgment of -acute, learned, and impartial observers; many of them are the result -of a careful and jealous scrutiny of Mezzofanti’s attainments, made by -critics of indisputable capacity; most of them will be admitted to be of -unquestionable value, as to one point at least—Mezzofanti’s familiarity -with the native language of each particular traveller; and all, even the -least solid among them, are interesting, as presenting to us, with the -freshness of contemporary narrative, the actual impressions received by -the writer from his opportunities of personal intercourse with the great -linguist. - -I have collected from many sources, published[360] and unpublished, -a variety of these travellers’ notices, which I shall use freely in -illustrating the narrative of the remaining years of the life of -Mezzofanti. I shall be careful, however, in all that regards the critical -portion of the biography, and especially in estimating the actual -extent of Mezzofanti’s linguistic attainments, only to rely, for each -language, on the authority of one who, either as a native, or at least an -unquestioned proficient in that particular language, will be admitted to -be a perfectly competent judge in its regard. - -The autumn of the year 1814 supplies one such notice, which is -remarkable, as the first direct testimony to Mezzofanti’s proficiency -in speaking German. He had learned this language in boyhood; and it is -clear from his letters to De Rossi, and from the books to which he freely -refers in that correspondence, that he was intimately acquainted with it -as a language of books. But in this year we are able for the first time -to test his power of speaking German by the judgment of a native. - -The writer in question is a German tourist, named Kephalides, professor -in the University of Breslau,[361] who (as may be inferred from his -alluding to the Congress of Vienna, as just opened) visited Bologna -in the October or November of 1814. “The Professor Abate Mezzofanti,” -writes this traveller, who met him in the Library, “speaks German with -extraordinary fluency, although he has never been out of Bologna. He is a -warm admirer, too, of the literature of Germany, especially its poetry; -and he has stirred up the same enthusiasm among the educated classes in -Bologna, both gentlemen and ladies.”[362] We learn incidentally, too, -from this writer’s narrative, that German was among the languages which -Mezzofanti taught to his private pupils. In a rather interesting account -of an interview which he had with old Father Emmanuel Aponte, (one of -Mezzofanti’s first instructors,) and with the celebrated lady-professor -of Greek, so often referred to, Clotilda Tambroni, Kephalides mentions -that the youth whom Mezzofanti sent to conduct him to Aponte was one of -his own pupils, who had just begun to “lisp German.” Strangely enough, -nevertheless, Kephalides does not allude to any other of Mezzofanti’s -languages, nor even to his general reputation as a linguist of more than -ordinary attainments. - -In the commencement of the year 1815, the chief Librarianship of the -University became vacant by the death of Father Pompilio Pozzetti. -Pozzetti was one of the congregation of the _Scuole Pie_, and in earlier -life had been Librarian of that Ducal Library at Modena, which Tiraboschi -has made familiar to every student of Italian literature. From the time -of his appointment as Prefect of the Bologna Library, a close intimacy -had subsisted between him and Mezzofanti; and on the latter’s being -named his assistant, this intimacy ripened into a warm friendship. -Mezzofanti was at once appointed as his successor, on the 25th of April, -1815.[363] In the letter in which (May 15th,) he communicated his -appointment to his friend, Pezzana, who held the kindred office at Parma, -he speaks in terms of the highest praise of his predecessor and of the -services which he had rendered during his tenure of office, and deplores -his death as a serious loss to the institution. - -The revenue of this office, which he held conjointly with his -professorship, (although both salaries united amounted to a very -moderate sum)[364] placed the Abate Mezzofanti in comparatively easy -circumstances, and for the first time above the actual struggle for -daily bread. That he still continued, nevertheless, to instruct pupils -in private, need hardly be matter of surprise, when it is remembered -that, as we have seen, the support of no less than ten individuals was -dependent upon his exertions.[365] - -Indeed, once released from the sordid cares and excessive drudgery of -tuition to which his earlier years had been condemned,— - - The starving meal, and all the thousand aches - Which patient merit of the unworthy takes— - -the exercise of teaching was to him rather an enjoyment than a labour. -After his removal to the Vatican Library, and even after his elevation to -the Cardinalate, we shall find it his chief, if not his only, relaxation. -Few men have possessed in a higher degree the power of winning at -once the confidence and the love of a pupil. The perfect simplicity -of his character—his exceeding gentleness—the cheerful playfulness of -his manner—the total absence of any seeming consciousness of superior -attainments—his evident enjoyment of the society of the young, and -above all the unaffected goodness and kindness of his disposition, -attracted the love of his youthful friends, as much as his marvellous -accomplishments challenged their admiration. It is only just to add that -he repaid the affection which he thus invariably won from them by the -liveliest interest in all that regarded their progress, and a sincere -concern for their happiness which followed them in every stage of their -after life. - -By degrees, too, he was beginning, in the natural advance of years, to -enjoy the best fruit of the labour of instruction, in the success, and -even distinction, attained by his quondam pupils. One of these to whom he -was especially attached, the young Marchese Angelelli, had passed through -the University with much honour; and, in the beginning of 1815, published -anonymously a metrical translation of the Electra of Sophocles, which met -with very marked favour. Mezzofanti who was much gratified by the success -of this first essay, communicated to his friend Pezzana the secret of -the authorship. “I send you,” he writes, May 8, 1815, “a first essay in -translation from the Greek, published by an able pupil of mine, whose -modesty has not permitted him to put his name to his work. From you, -however, I make no secret of it. The author is one of our young nobles, -the Marchese Maximilian Francis Angelelli, an indefatigable cultivator -of every liberal study. I may add, as there is no danger of its reaching -the ears of the modest translator, that this first effort is only the -beginning of greater things. You will accept a copy for yourself, and -place the other in your library, which I am happy to know grows daily, -both in extent and reputation, through the care of its librarian, no less -than by his distinguished name.” - -This first essay of the young poet was followed in the next year by -a further publication, containing the Electra, the Antigone, and the -Trachiniæ; and, a few years later, his master had the gratification of -witnessing the successful completion of his favourite pupil’s task, -by the publication of the entire seven tragedies of Sophocles, in -1823-4.[366] - -One effect of Mezzofanti’s appointment as librarian was to separate him -somewhat from his sister and her family. He occupied thenceforward the -apartments of the librarian in the Palace of the University. But he still -continued towards them the same affectionate protection and support. -Hitherto he had himself in part superintended or directed the education -of his nephews, and especially of his namesake Joseph, a youth of much -promise, whose diligence and success fully requited his uncle’s care. -Joseph had made choice of the ecclesiastical profession; and, although -falling far short of his uncle’s extraordinary gift, he became an -excellent linguist, and was especially distinguished as a Greek and Latin -scholar; so that his uncle had the satisfaction, when his own increasing -occupations compelled him to diminish the number of his pupils, of -finding the young Minarelli fully competent to undertake a portion of the -charge. - -His first public appearance at the Academy after he entered upon his new -office, was for the purpose of reading, (July 11th, 1815,) a paper “On -the Wallachian Language and its Analogies with Latin;”—a subject which -has engaged the attention of philologers and historians from the days -of Chalcocondylas, and which involves many interesting ethnological, as -well as philological considerations.[367] As we shall find him, a few -years later, astonishing a German visitor by his familiarity with this -out-of-the-way language, it is worth while to note this essay, as an -evidence that here, too, his knowledge was the result of careful study, -and not of casual opportunity, or of sudden inspiration. - -For a considerable time after he took charge of the Library, he seems -to have been much occupied by his duties in connexion with it. The only -letter which I have been able to obtain about this period, one addressed -to Pezzana, March 5th, 1816, is entirely occupied with details regarding -the library; and M. Manavit mentions that he not only obtained from the -authorities a considerable addition to the funds appropriated to the -purchase of books, but, moreover, devoted no trifling share of his own -humble resources to the same purpose.[368] In the course of a few months, -too, he was quite at ease in his new pursuit; and the familiarity with -the contents of the library, and even of the position of particular books -upon its shelves which he soon possessed, would, in a person of less -prodigious memory, have been a subject of wonder. His nephew, Cavaliere -Minarelli of Bologna, was present on one occasion when Professor Ranzani, -while passing an evening in the librarian’s apartments, happened to -require some rare volume from the library; and, though it was dark at the -time, Mezzofanti left the room without a light, proceeded to the library, -and in a few moments returned with the volume required. - -In July, 1816, Mezzofanti read at the Academy an essay “on the Language -of the Sette Communi at Vicenza,” which has been spoken of with much -praise. This singular community—descended from those stragglers of the -invading army of Cimbri and Teutones which crossed the Alps in the -year of Rome, 640, who escaped amid the almost complete extermination -of their companions under Marius, and took refuge in the neighbouring -mountains—presents, (like the similar Roman colony on the Transylvanian -border,) the strange phenomenon of a foreign race and language preserved -unmixed in the midst of another people and another tongue for a space of -nearly two thousand years. They occupy seven parishes in the vicinity -of Vicenza,[369] whence their name is derived; and they still retain -not only the tradition of their origin, but the substance, and even the -leading forms of the Teutonic language; insomuch that Frederic IV., -of Denmark, who visited them in the beginning of the last century, -(1708,) discoursed with them in Danish, and found their idiom perfectly -intelligible.[370] - -This was a theme peculiarly suited to Mezzofanti’s powers. His essay -excited considerable interest at the time, but unfortunately was never -printed. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -[1817-1820.] - - -Southey, in one of his pleasant gossiping letters to Bedford, tells that -when M. de Sagrie was going to publish a French translation of Southey’s -“Roderick,” his publisher, Le Bel, insisted upon having a life of the -poet prefixed. M. de Sagrie objected; and at last, in order to get rid of -the printer’s importunities, said that he knew nothing whatever of the -life of Mr. Southey. “N’importe!” was the printer’s cool reply, “Ecrivez -toujours, brodez! Brodez-la un peu; que ce soit vrai ou non, ce ne fait -rien.”[371] - -We have come to a part of Mezzofanti’s quiet and uniform life in which -there are so few incidents to break the monotony of the uneventful -narrative, that, at least in so far as its interest is concerned, his -biographer is almost in the same condition with M. de Sagrie. The true -purpose of this narrative, however—to exhibit the faculty rather than the -man—seems to me to depend less on the accumulation of piquant anecdotes -and striking adventures, than upon a calm and truthful survey of his -intellectual attainments in the successive stages of his career. Instead, -therefore, of having recourse to the device suggested by De Sagrie’s -enterprising publisher, and supplying, by a little ingenious “broderie,” -the deficiency of exciting incident, I shall content myself with weaving -together, in the order of time, the several notices of Mezzofanti, by -travellers and others, which have come within my reach; interspersing -such explanations, incidents, illustrations, and anecdotes, as I have -been able to glean, among the scanty memorials of this period which -have survived. Fortunately, from the year which we have now reached, -there exists a tolerably connected series of such sketches. They are, of -course, from the most various hands—from authors - - of all tongues and creeds;— - Some were those who counted beads, - Some of mosque, and some of church, - And some, or I mis-say, of neither;— - -but their value, it need hardly be said, is enhanced by this very -variety. Proceeding from so many independent sources, produced for the -most part, too, upon the spot, and in the order of time in which they -appear in the narrative;—these unconnected sketches may be believed to -present, if a less minute and circumstantial, certainly a more vivid as -well as more reliable, portraiture of Mezzofanti, than could be hoped -even from the daily scrutiny of familiar friends, intimately conversant -with his every day life, but always viewing his character from the same -unvarying point, and rather submitting the result of their own matured -observations of what Mezzofanti seemed to them to be, than affording -materials for a calm and dispassionate estimate of what he really was. -Nor must it be forgotten that no single chronicler, even had he the -circumstantiality of a Boswell, could be capable of keeping a record -of Mezzofanti’s life, which could be available as the foundation of a -satisfactory judgment as to the real extent and nature of his linguistic -accomplishment. It is only another Mezzofanti who would be a competent -witness on such a question; and, in default of a single Polyglot critic -of his attainments in all the languages which he is supposed to have -known, we shall best consult the interests of truth and science, by -considering severally, in reference to each of these languages, the -judgment formed regarding his performance therein by those whose native -language it was. - -I have already said that the office of librarian brought him into contact -with most of the strangers, especially of the literary class, who visited -Bologna. In Bolognese society, too, he was more courted and sought after -than his modest and retiring disposition would have desired. In the house -of the Cardinal-Archbishop Opizzoni, and of the Cardinal Legates, Lanti, -and Spina, he was always an honoured guest. With several of the noble -families of the city, especially the Marescalchi, the Angelelli, the -Amerini, and the Zambeccari, he lived on terms of the closest intimacy. -The Cavaliere Pezzana mentions that when, on a visit to Bologna in 1817, -he was dining at the first named palace, Mezzofanti came in uninvited, -and almost as one of the family. At all these houses his opportunities of -meeting foreigners of every race and language may easily be believed to -have been frequent, and of the most various character. - -The earliest English visitor of the Abate Mezzofanti whom I have been -able to discover is Mr. Harford, author of the recent “Life of Michael -Angelo Buonarroti,”[372] and proprietor of the valuable gallery of -Blaise Castle, which Dr. Waagen describes in his “Treasures of Art in -England.”[373] - -Mr. Harford visited Bologna in the autumn of 1817, at which time he first -made Mezzofanti’s acquaintance. He renewed the acquaintance subsequently -at Rome, and on both occasions had a full opportunity of observing and -of testing his extraordinary gift of language. Mr. Harford has kindly -communicated to me his recollections of Mezzofanti at both these periods -of life, which, (although the latter part anticipates the order of time -by nearly thirty years,) may most naturally be inserted together. - - “I first made the acquaintance of the Abbé Mezzofanti,” writes - Mr. Harford, “at the table of Cardinal Lanti, brother of the - Duke of Lanti, then Legate of Bologna. This was in the year - 1817. The Cardinal was then living at the public palace at - Bologna, but I had previously known him in Rome. He was a man - of highly cultivated mind, and of gentlemanly and agreeable - manners. He made his guests perfectly at their ease, and I - well recollect, after dinner, forming one of a group around - Abbé Mezzofanti, and listening with deep interest to his - animated conversation, which had reference, in consequence - of questions put to him, to various topics, illustrating - his wonderful acquaintance with the principal languages of - the world. Report, at this time, gave him credit for being - master of upwards of forty languages; and I recollect, among - other things, his giving proof of his familiar acquaintance - with the Welsh. I had some particular conversation with him - upon the origin of what is called Saxon, Norman, and Lombard - architecture, and I remember his entire accordance with the - opinion I threw out, that it resolved itself in each case into - a corruption of Roman architecture. - - “My next interview with him was after a long lapse of time, - for I did not meet him again till the year 1846, the winter - of which I passed in Rome. The Abbé was then changed into the - Cardinal Mezzofanti. I found him occupying a handsome suite - of apartments in a palazzo in the Piazza Santi Apostoli. He - assured me he well remembered meeting Mrs. H. and myself at - Cardinal Lanti’s, on the occasion above referred to; and - in the course of several visits which I paid him during - the winter and ensuing spring, his conversation was always - animated and agreeable. He conversed with me in English, which - he spoke with the utmost fluency and correctness, and only - with a slight foreign accent. His familiar knowledge of our - provincial dialects quite surprised me. ‘Do you know much of - the Yorkshire dialect?’ he said to me: and then, with much - humour, gave me various specimens of its peculiarities; ‘and - your _Zummersetshire_ dialect,’ he went on to say, laughing as - he spoke, and imitating it. - - “On another occasion he spoke to me with high admiration of the - style of Addison, preferring it to that of any English author - with whom he was acquainted. He commended its ease, elegance, - and grace; and then contrasted it with the grandiloquence of - Johnson, whose powerful mind and copious fancy he also greatly - admired, though he deemed him much inferior in real wit and - taste to Addison. In all this I fully agreed with him; and then - inquired whether he had ever read Boswell’s Life of Johnson, - and, finding he had not, I told him he must allow me to send - it to him, as I felt assured, from the interest he displayed - in our English literature, it would much amuse and delight him. - This promise I subsequently fulfilled.[374] - - “Speaking to me about an English lady with whom I was well - acquainted, he eagerly inquired, ‘_Is she a blue-stocking?_’ - - “He one day talked to me about the Chinese language and its - difficulties, and told me that some time back a gentleman - who had resided in China visited him. ‘I concluded,’ he - added, ‘that I might address him in Chinese, and did so;—but, - after exchanging a few sentences with me, he begged that we - might pursue our conversation in French. We talked, however, - long enough for me to discover that he spoke in _the Canton - dialect_.’ - - “That one who had never set his foot out of Italy should be - thus able in an instant to detect the little peculiarities of - dialect in a man who had lived in China, did, I acknowledge, - strike me with astonishment. - - “This sort of critical sagacity in languages enabled the - Cardinal to render important services to the Propaganda College - at Rome, in which he held a high office. I was not only struck - with the fluency, but with the rapidity with which he spoke - the English language, and, I might also add, the idiomatic - correctness of his expressions. - - “So much of celebrity attached itself to his name that - foreigners of distinction gladly sought occasions of making - his acquaintance. On being ushered into his presence on one of - my visits I found him surrounded by a large party of admirers, - including several ladies, who all appeared highly delighted - with his animated conversation.” - -We shall have other opportunities of adverting to his curiously minute -acquaintance, not only with English literature, but even with the -provincial dialects of English, by which Mr. Harford was so much struck. -But, as some difference of opinion has been expressed with regard to his -acquaintance with Welsh, I think it right to note the circumstance that -Mr. Harford distinctly remembers him, as early as 1817, to have given -“proofs of familiar acquaintance” with that language.[375] - -Somewhat later in the same year, November, 1817, Mr. Stewart Rose visited -Mezzofanti. The ordeal to which his linguistic powers were submitted in -Mr. Rose’s presence was more severe and more varied than that witnessed -by Mr. Harford; the former having heard him tried in German, Greek, and -Turkish, as well as in English. But as we shall have abundant independent -testimony for each of these, Mr. Rose’s testimony is specially important, -as recording the exceeding accuracy of Mezzofanti’s English, which he -tested by “long and repeated conversations.” - -“As this country,” he writes, “has been fertile in every variety of -genius, from that which handles the pencil to that which sweeps the -skies with the telescope; so even in this, her least favourite beat, -she has produced men who, in early life, have embraced such a circle of -languages, as one should hardly imagine their ages would have enabled -them to obtain. Thus the wonders which are related of one of these, Pico -di Mirandola, I always considered fabulous, till I was myself the witness -of acquisitions which can scarcely be considered less extraordinary. - -“The living lion to whom I allude is Signor Mezzofanti of Bologna, who -when I saw him, though he was only thirty-six years old, read twenty -and wrote eighteen languages. This is the least marvellous part of the -story. He spoke all these fluently, and those of which I could judge -with the most extraordinary precision. I had the pleasure of dining with -him formerly in the house of a Bolognese lady, at whose table a German -officer declared he could not have distinguished him from a German. He -passed the whole of the next day with G—— and myself, and G— told me he -should have taken him for an Englishman, who had been some time out of -England. A Smyrniote servant who was with me, bore equal testimony to -his skill in other languages, and declared he might pass for a Greek or -a Turk in the dominions of the Grand Seignior. But what most surprised -me was his accuracy; for, during long and repeated conversations in -English, he never once misapplied the _sign_ of a tense, that fearful -stumblingblock to Scotch and Irish, in whose writings there is always to -be found some abuse of these undefinable niceties. The marvel was, if -possible, rendered more marvellous by this gentleman’s accomplishments -and information, things rare in linguists, who generally mistake -the means for the end. It ought also to be stated that his various -acquisitions had all been made in Bologna, from which, when I saw him, he -had never wandered above thirty miles.”[376] - -Mr. Rose was mistaken in supposing that Mezzofanti at this time was but -thirty-six years old. He was in reality forty-three; but the testimony -which he bears to his “general accomplishments and information” will be -found to be confirmed by very many succeeding travellers. - -It was earlier in the same year, probably in June, on his return from -Rome to Venice,[377] that Lord Byron first saw Mezzofanti. The extract -given by Moore from his Journal, in which he describes the impressions -made upon him by their intercourse has no date attached; but as he -also alludes to Mezzofanti as among “the great names of Italy” in the -Dedication of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, which is dated January, -2nd, 1818, it would seem likely that he had met him at least before -that date.[378] Of the particulars of their intercourse no record is -preserved; but Mezzofanti always spoke with profound interest of his -noble visitor. He was perfectly familiar with his poetry. The late Dr. -Cox of Southampton assured me that his criticism of the several poems, -and especially of Childe Harold, would do credit to our best reviews. And -he often expressed the deepest regret for the early and unhappy fate, by -which this gifted man was called away while he still lay in the shadow -of that cold and gloomy scepticism which so often marred his better -impulses, and— - - Flung o’er all that’s warm and bright, - The winter of an icy creed. - -“Alas!” he one day said to M. Manavit, “that desolating scepticism which -had long oppressed his soul, was not natural to such a mind. Sooner or -later he would have awakened from it. And then it only remained for -him to open the most glorious page in his Childe Harold’s adventurous -Pilgrimage—that in which, reviewing all his doubts, his struggles, and -his sorrows, and laying bare the deep wounds of his haughty soul, he -should have sought rest from them all in the peaceful bosom of the faith -of his fathers.”[379] - -Such a feeling as this on the part of Mezzofanti gives a melancholy -interest to the well-known passage, half laughing, half admiring, in -which Byron records his recollections of the great linguist. - -“In general,” he says, “I do not draw well with literary men;—not that -I dislike them; but I never knew what to say to them, after I have -praised their last publication. There are several exceptions, to be -sure; but then they have either been men of the world, such as Scott and -Moore, &c., or visionaries out of it, such as Shelley, &c.; but your -literary every-day man and I never met well in company;—especially your -foreigners, whom I never could abide, except Giordani, &c., &c., &c., (I -really can’t name any other.) I don’t remember a man amongst them whom I -ever wished to see twice, except perhaps Mezzophanti, who is a monster -of languages, the Briareus of parts of speech, a walking polyglot, and -more;—who ought to have existed at the time of the Tower of Babel, as -universal interpreter.[380] He is, indeed, a marvel—unassuming also. I -tried him in all the tongues in which I knew a single oath or adjuration -to the gods, against post-boys, savages, Tartars, boatmen, sailors, -pilots, gondoliers, muleteers, camel-drivers, vetturini, post-masters, -post-houses, post, everything; and egad! he astounded me—even to my -English.” - -The Abbé Gaume adds, in reference to the last of these languages, an -anecdote still current in Rome, though doubtless a mere exaggeration[381] -of the real story; viz., that, “when Byron had exhausted his vocabulary -of English slang, Mezzofanti quietly asked: ‘And is that all?’ - -‘I can go no further.’ replied the noble poet, ‘unless I coin words for -the purpose.’ - -‘Pardon me, my Lord,’ rejoined Mezzofanti; and proceeded to repeat for -him a variety of the refinements of London slang, till then unknown to -his visitor’s rich vocabulary!”[382] - -During the winter of 1817-8, a literary society was formed in Bologna for -the cultivation of poetry and the publication of literary and scientific -essays, of which Mezzofanti was appointed president. - -The original members of this body were twenty-one in number, and -included Ranzani, Angelelli, Mezzofanti’s nephew, Giuseppe Minarelli, -several professors, both of the University, and of the Academia delle -Belle Arti, and some literary noblemen and gentlemen of the city. -They met occasionally for readings and recitations; and printed a -serial collection, called _Opuscoli Letterarj di Bologna_. I had hopes -of learning something from the records of this society, or from the -recollections of its members, which might tend to illustrate the history -of Mezzofanti’s studies at this period: but, unhappily, not a single -original member of the society is now living; and their only publication -available for the purposes of this biography is Mezzofanti’s own -_Discorso in Lode del P. Aponte_;—his solitary publication, which was -printed in the _Opuscoli Letterarj_, in 1820. - -Mezzofanti continued, even after the formation of this society, to -frequent the meetings of the Academy of the Institute. On the 3rd of -December, 1818, he read a paper in this Academy, “on a remarkable -Mexican MS., preserved in the Library of the Institute.” This paper -was most probably the basis of the Essay upon the Mexican Calendar -already alluded to. As it entered minutely into the whole subject of the -hieroglyphical writings of the Mexicans, and discussed at some length -the opinions of all the various writers on Mexican antiquities down to -Humboldt, the paper created very considerable interest in the Academy, -and was spoken of with praise by the literary journals of the day.[383] - -The visit of the Emperor Francis I. of Austria to Bologna in 1819, -contributed still more to establish the reputation of Mezzofanti. Having -appointed an interview with him, the Emperor took the precaution of -securing during the audience the presence of a number of members of his -suite, carefully selected so as to represent the chief languages of the -Austrian Empire. Each in turn, German, Magyar, Bohemian, Wallachian, -Illyrian, and Pole, took occasion to address the astonished professor; -but although naturally somewhat startled by the novelty of the scene, and -perhaps abashed by the presence of royalty, he replied with such perfect -fluency and correctness to each, “as to extort not merely approval but -admiration and applause.”[384] - -The year 1819 is further notable as the date of Mezzofanti’s only -published composition, the above-named panegyric of his early friend and -instructor Emanuel Aponte. The death of this excellent and venerable -man had occurred more than three years earlier, (November 22, 1815), -and his funeral oration had been pronounced by Filippo Schiassi, the -professor of numismatics, as also by Pacifico Deani, whose discourse -was translated into Spanish by Don Camillo Salina. Aponte’s grateful -pupil, nevertheless, took advantage of the opportunity afforded by -the opening of the public studies of the university, to offer his own -especial tribute to the piety and learning of the good old father, and -particularly to the excellence of his method of teaching the Greek -language and the merits of a Grammar which he had published for the use -of the higher schools. - -The Discourse is chiefly occupied (after a sketch of Aponte’s life and -character) with a criticism of the method pursued in this Grammar,—a -criticism chiefly noticeable as embodying the method, (which we know from -other sources to have been the speaker’s own,) of studying a language -rather by rhythm than by rule; “by ascertaining its normal structure, -the principle which governs its inflexions, and especially the dominant -principle which regulates the changes of letters according to the -different organs of speech.” - -As a specimen of this general manner of the Discourse, I shall translate -the concluding paragraphs,—the exhortation to the study of Greek -literature with which the professor takes leave of his audience. - - “And still shall these studies flourish, my dear young friends, - perpetuated by you under the guidance of the instructions - which Father Emanuel bequeathed to us. His method, which, - in the acquisition of the language, rather exercises the - reason than burdens the memory, and which makes good sense - the chief basis for the right interpretation of an author, - will assuredly conduct to the desired end that ardour which, - on this solemn occasion, you feel renewed within you: an - ardour so great that, had I to-day spoken solely of the - difficulties and obstacles in the path of learning, it would, - nevertheless, give you strength and courage to encounter and - overcome them. Well, therefore, may we have confidence in - you, and believe that you will preserve to your native land - the fame achieved by your forefathers in Grecian studies. - These studies are the special inheritance of our countrymen. - In Italy the muses of Greece sought an asylum, when they fled - before the invader from their ancient glorious abode. Learned - Greeks were at that period dispersed through our principal - cities, where, establishing schools, they found munificent - patrons and zealous pupils. In Rome Grecian literature enjoyed - the generous patronage of Nicholas V.; and around Cardinal - Bessarion were gathered men of vast erudition, who renewed - the lustre of the old Athenian schools, cultivating a wiser - philosophy, however, than the ancients employed; and, thanks - to the precious volumes accumulated by those two illustrious - Mæcenases and by the princes of Italy; thanks to the skill of - the masters and the aptitude and excellence of Italian genius, - Grecian literature, conjointly with Latin, quickly attained - the highest pitch of cultivation amongst us, ushering in the - golden age of Italian letters. A countless series of names - distinguished in this branch of learning presents itself before - me: but I delight rather to consider in prospect the future - series which begins in you. Be not disturbed by any fear - that the pursuit to which I am exhorting you will hinder the - profounder study of the sciences. Alas, very different are the - thoughts, very different, indeed, the cares which distract the - mind of youth and turn its generous fervour aside, miserably - disappointing the bright hopes that were formed of it. No: - theologians, lawyers, philosophers, physicians, mathematicians, - all men of science and learning, have ever found in the Greek - literature their most agreeable solace. Many of the sciences - had, in Greece, early reached a high degree of perfection; - others made a noble beginning in that country; most of them - are embellished with titles borrowed from its language; - and all of them have recourse to Greek when they wish, with - precision and dignity, to denominate, and thereby to define, - the objects of their consideration. ‘These studies,’ says one - who owed much of his eloquence to the industry with which he - cultivated them, ‘furnish youth with profitable and delightful - knowledge; they amuse maturer years; they adorn prosperity, - and in adversity afford an asylum from care; they delight us - in the quiet of home, and are no hindrance in affairs of the - gravest moment; they discover for us many a useful thing; for - the traveller they procure the regard of strangers, and, in - the solitude of the country, they solace the mind with the - purest of pleasures.’ Let your main study, then, be the sterner - sciences; Greek shall follow as a faithful companion, affording - you useful assistance therein as well as delightful recreation. - And thus, thinking of nothing else, having nothing else at - heart, than religion and learning, let the expectations of your - friends and of your country be fulfilled in you. Thus shall you - correspond with the paternal designs of our best of princes, - His Holiness, the Sovereign Pontiff, who, in his munificence - and splendour, daily enlarges the dignity of this illustrious - University, promoting, by wise provisions, your education and - your glory. And, whilst you vigorously prosecute the career - so well begun, while your love for Greek increases with the - increasing profit you derive from it, I, too, will exult in - your brilliant, progress. To this I will look for a monument, - truly durable and immortal, of my dear Father Emanuel, to whom - I feel myself bound by eternal gratitude; since gratitude, - reverence, and devotion are surely due to them who, by example - and by precept, point out to us the road to virtue and to - learning, inviting and exhorting us, with loving solicitude, - to direct our lives to praiseworthy pursuits and to true - happiness.”[385] (pp. 22-26.) - -Soon after the death of Father Aponte, Mezzofanti had the further grief -of losing his friend, the celebrated Signora Clotilda Tambroni, who, -although considerably older than he, had been, as we have seen, his -fellow pupil under Father Aponte, and with whom he had ever afterwards -continued upon terms of most intimate friendship. Like Mezzofanti, the -Signora Tambroni was, after the publication of the concordat, reinstated -in the Greek professorship from which she had been dispossessed at the -occupation of Bologna by the French. She was an excellent linguist, -being familiar with Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, and English,[386] -and a poetess of some reputation, not only in her own, but also in the -learned languages.[387] The Breslau professor, already referred to, -Herr Kephalides, was much interested by her conversation; and that -the interest which she created did not arise merely from the unusual -circumstance of a lady’s devoting herself to such studies, but from her -own unquestioned learning and ability, is attested by all who knew her. -“It was a pleasant thing,” says Lady Morgan,[388] “to hear her learned -coadjutor [Mezzofanti] in describing to us the good qualities of her -heart, do ample justice to the profound learning which had raised her -to an equality of collegiate rank with himself, without an innuendo at -that erudition, which, in England, is a greater female stigma than vice -itself.” - -The lively but caustic authoress just named, visited Italy in 1819-20. In -her account of Bologna she devotes a note to the Abate Mezzofanti, under -whose escort, (which she recognises as a peculiar advantage,) she visited -the library and museum of the University. - -“The well-known Abate Mezzofanti, librarian to the Institute,” she -writes, “was of our party. Conversing with this very learned person on -the subject of his ‘forty languages,’ he smiled at the exaggeration, and -said, that although he had gone over the outline of forty languages, he -was not master of them, as he had dropped such as had not books worth -reading. His Greek master, being a Spaniard, taught him Spanish. The -German, Polish, Bohemian, and Hungarian tongues he originally acquired -during the occupation of Bologna by the Austrian power; and afterwards -he had learned French from the French, and English by reading and -by conversing with English travellers. With all this superfluity of -languages, he spoke nothing but Bolognese in his own family. With us, he -always spoke English, and with scarcely any accent, though I believe he -has never been out of Bologna. His tone of phrase and peculiar selection -of words were those of the ‘Spectator;’ and it is probable that he was -most conversant with the English works of that day. The Abate Mezzofanti -was professor of the Greek and Oriental languages under the French: when -Buonaparte abolished the Greek professorship, Mezzofanti was pensioned -off. He was again made Greek professor by the Austrians, again set aside -by the French, and again restored by the Pope.”[389] - -Like most of Lady Morgan’s sketches, this account of Mezzofanti, although -interesting, is not free from inaccuracies. Thus she falls into the -common error already noticed, that Mezzofanti up to this time “had never -been out of Bologna,” and a still more important mistake as to the cause -of his first deprivation of his professorship. He was dispossessed of -this professorship, (which, it may be added, was not of Greek but of -Arabic,) not because the professorship was suppressed, but because he -declined to take the oaths to the new government. The account of his -second deprivation is also inaccurate; and the assertion that he never -cultivated any languages except those which “had books worth reading,” we -shall see hereafter, to be entirely without foundation. - -The statement too, that “he spoke only Bolognese in his own family” is -an exaggeration. With the elder members of the family—his father, his -mother, and his sister, Signora Minarelli—it was so; and there was a -cousin of his, named Antonia Mezzofanti, a lively and agreeable old dame, -and a frequent guest at the house of his sister, to whom he was much -attached, and with whom he delighted to converse in the pleasant dialect -of Bologna. But the children of his sister were all well educated, -and, like the educated classes throughout all the provincial cities of -Italy, habitually spoke the common and classical Italian language. Even -after Mezzofanti came to Rome, when questioned as to the number of -languages that he spoke, he often used jestingly to reply: “fifty, and -Bolognese.”[390] - -Very nearly at the same time with Lady Morgan’s interview, Mezzofanti was -visited by a tourist far more competent to form a just opinion of the -extent of his attainments—M. Molbech, a Danish scholar, author of a Tour -in Germany, France, England, and Italy. I shall close the chapter with -his testimony. It is chiefly valuable, in reference to his own language, -the Danish, in which he had an opportunity of fully testing Mezzofanti’s -knowledge, in an interview of nearly two hours’ duration. It is clear, -too, from the very tone of his narrative, that, while he carried away the -highest admiration for the extraordinary man whom he had seen, he was -by no means disposed to fall into that blind and indiscriminate eulogy -of which other less instructed and more imaginative visitors have been -accused. - - “At last, in the afternoon,” he writes, “I succeeded in meeting - one of the living wonders of Italy, the librarian Mezzofanti, - with whom I had only spoken for a few moments in the gallery, - when I passed through Bologna before: I now spent a couple of - hours with him, at his lodgings in the university building, - and at the library, and would willingly, for his sake alone, - have prolonged my stay at Bologna for a couple of days, if I - had not been bound by contract with the vetturino as far as - Venice. His celebrity must be an inconvenience to him; for - scarcely any educated traveller leaves Bologna without having - paid him a visit, and the hired guides never omit to mention - his name among the first curiosities of the town. This learned - Italian, who has never been so far from his birthplace, - Bologna, as to Florence or Rome, is certainly one of the - world’s greatest geniuses in point of languages. I do not know - the number he understands, but there is scarcely any European - dialect, whether Romanic, Scandinavian, or Slavonic, that this - miraculous polyglottist does not speak. It is said the total - amounts to more than thirty languages; and among them is that - of the gipsies, which he learned to speak from a gipsy who was - quartered with an Hungarian regiment at Bologna. - - “I found a German with him, with whom he was conversing in - fluent and well sounding German; when we were alone, and I - began to speak to him in the same language, he interrupted - me with a question in Danish, ‘Hvorledes har det behaget dem - i Italien?’ (‘How have you been pleased with Italy?’) After - this, he pursued the conversation in Danish, by his own desire, - almost all the time I continued with him, as this, according - to his own polite expression, was a pleasure he did not often - enjoy; and he spoke the language, from want of exercise, - certainly not with the same fluency and ease as English or - German, but with almost entire correctness. Imagine my delight - at such a conversation! Of Danish books, however, I found in - his rich and excellent philological collection no more than - Baden’s Grammar, and Hallage’s Norwegian Vocabulary; and in - the library Haldorson’s Icelandic Dictionary, in which he made - me read him a couple of pages of the preface as a lesson in - pronunciation. Our conversation turned mostly on Northern and - German literature. The last he is pretty minutely acquainted - with; and he is very fond of German poetry, which he has - succeeded in bringing into fashion with the ladies of Bologna, - so that Schiller and Goethe, whom the Romans hardly know by - name, are here read in the original, and their works are to be - had in the library. This collection occupies a finely-built - saloon, in which it is arranged in dark presses with wire - gratings, and is said to contain about 120,000 volumes. Besides - Mezzofanti, there are an under librarian, two assistants, and - three other servants. Books are bought to the amount of about - 1000 scudi, or more than 200_l._ sterling, a year. Mezzofanti - is not merely a linguist, but is well acquainted with literary - history and biography, and also with the library under his - charge. As an author he is not known, so far as I am aware; and - he seems at present to be no older than about forty. I must - add, what perhaps would be least expected from a learned man - who has been unceasingly occupied with linguistic studies, and - has hardly been out of his native town, that he has the finest - and most polished manners, and, at the same time, the most - engaging good nature.”[391] - -Herr Molbech is still the chief secretary of the Royal Library in -Copenhagen. He is one of the most distinguished writers on Danish -philology; his great Danish Dictionary[392] is the classical authority on -the language; and, in recognition of his great literary merits, he has -been created a privy councillor and a commander of the Danebrog order. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -[1820-1828.] - - -Mezzofanti’s regular studies suffered some interruption in the early -part of 1820. Debilitated by the excessive and protracted application -which has been described, his health had for some time been gradually -giving way, and at last he was peremptorily ordered to suspend his -lectures, and to discontinue his private studies for six months.[393] -During this interval he employed himself chiefly in botanizing, a study -in which he is said to have made considerable progress. He also made a -short excursion to the beautiful district of Mantua, and afterwards to -Modena, Pisa, and Leghorn.[394] In the course of this journey he found -an opportunity of making himself acquainted with the Hebrew Psalmody -as followed in the modern synagogues, and with the practical system of -accentuation of the ancient Hebrew Language now in use among the Jews -of Italy. The object of his visit to Leghorn was, that, from the Greek -sailors of that port, he might acquire the pronunciation of modern -Romaic.[395] - -After a short time his health was perfectly restored, with the exception -of a certain debility of sight from which he never afterwards completely -recovered; and he resumed his ordinary duties in the university about the -middle of the year 1820. - -The solar eclipse of the 20th of September in that year attracted many -scientific visitors to Bologna and the neighbouring cities. Being annular -in that region, the eclipse was watched with especial interest by all the -astronomers of Northern Italy, by Plana at Turin, by Santini at Padua, -by Padre Inghirami at Florence, and by Padre Tinari at Siena. At Bologna -the director of the observatory at this time was Pietro Caturegli, editor -of the Bolognese _Efemeridi Astronomiche_, and one of Mezzofanti’s most -valued friends. - -Caturegli’s reputation and the excellent condition of his observatory, -induced the celebrated Hungarian Astronomer, Baron Von Zach, who, after -a career of much and varied adventure, was at that time engaged in -editing at Genoa the Correspondance Astronomique, (a French continuation -of his former German Journal _Monatliche Correspondenz für Erz- und -Himmels-Kunde_,) to select Bologna as the place from which to observe -this interesting phenomenon. He was accompanied by a Russian nobleman, -Prince Volkonski, a man of highly cultivated literary and scientific -tastes, and by Captain Smyth of H. M. Ship, _Aid_, who had just completed -his survey of the Ionian Islands. Notwithstanding numerous and urgent -applications from other quarters, these three distinguished foreigners, -together with his friend Mezzofanti, were the only persons whom Caturegli -admitted to the observatory during his observations of the eclipse. - -The Baron published in his Journal[396] a very full account of the -phenomena of the eclipse, to which he appended as a note the following -sketch of his companion on the occasion. - - “The annular eclipse of the sun,” he writes, “was one curiosity - for us, and Signor Mezzofanti was another. This extraordinary - man is really a rival of Mithridates; he speaks thirty-two - languages, living and dead, in the manner I am going to - describe. He accosted me in Hungarian, and with a compliment - so well turned, and in such excellent Magyar, that I was - quite taken by surprise and stupefied. He afterwards spoke - to me in German, at first in good Saxon (the _Crusca_ of the - Germans,) and then in the Austrian and Swabian dialects, with - a correctness of accent that amazed me to the last degree, - and made me burst into a fit of laughter at the thought of - the contrast between the language and the appearance of this - astonishing professor. He spoke English to Captain Smyth, - Russian and Polish to Prince Volkonski, not stuttering and - stammering, but with the same volubility as if he had been - speaking his mother tongue, the dialect of Bologna. I was - quite unable to tear myself away from him. At a dinner at the - cardinal legate’s, Della Spina, his eminence placed me at table - next him; after having chatted with him in several languages, - all of which he spoke much better than I did, it came into my - head to address to him on a sudden some words of Wallachian. - Without hesitation, and without appearing to remark what an - out-of-the-way dialect I had branched off to, off went my - polyglot in the same language, and so fast, that I was obliged - to say to him; ‘Gently, gently, Mr. Abbé; I really can’t follow - you; I am at the end of my Latin-Wallachian.’ It was more than - forty years since I had spoken the language, or even thought of - it, though I knew it very well in my youth, when I served in an - Hungarian regiment, and was in garrison at Transylvania. The - professor was not only more ready in the language than I, but - he informed me on this occasion, that he knew another tongue - that I had never been able to get hold of, though I had enjoyed - better opportunities of doing so than he, as I formerly had men - that spoke it in my regiment. - - “This was the language of the Zigans, or Gipsies, whom the - French so improperly call Bohemians, at which the good and - genuine Bohemians, that is to say, the inhabitants of the - kingdom of Bohemia, are not a little indignant. But how could - an Italian abbé, who had never been out of his native town, - find means to learn a language that is neither written nor - printed? In the Italian wars an Hungarian regiment was in - garrison at Bologna: the language-loving professor discovered a - gipsy in it, and made him his teacher; and, with the facility - and happy memory that nature has gifted him with, he was soon - master of the language, which, it is believed, is nothing but a - dialect, and a corrupted one into the bargain, of some tribes - of Parias of Hindostan.”[397] - -The wide and peculiar circulation of the journal in which this -interesting sketch appeared, contributed more than any previous notice to -extend the fame of Mezzofanti. As might naturally be expected, however, -details so marvellous, were received with considerable incredulity by -some, and were explained away by others as mere embellishments of a -traveller’s tale. In consequence, Von Zach, in a subsequent number of -his journal, not only reiterated the statement, but added fuller and more -interesting particulars regarding it. - - “Many persons have doubted,” he writes, “what we said of - this astonishing professor of Bologna in our fourth volume; - as there have also been persons who doubted what Valerius - Maximus relates of the analogous talents of Cyrus and - Mithridates. Although all historians have the character of - being a little given to lying, Valerius, notwithstanding, - passes for a sufficiently veracious author. He says in the - eighth book and 9th chapter of his History, or rather of his - Compendium of History: _Cyrus ommium militum suorum nomina, - Mithridates duarum et viginti gentium quæ sub regno ejus - erant linguas, ediscendo_. People who came several centuries - after, and who probably did not know more than one language, - and possibly not even that one correctly, have pretended that - the twenty-two languages of Mithridates were only different - dialects, and that Cyrus only knew the names of his generals. - It may be so; we know nothing of the reality, and consequently - shall not contradict those critics; but what we do know is, - that Signor Mezzofanti speaks very good German, Hungarian, - Slavonic, Wallachian, Russian, Polish, French and English. I - have mentioned my authorities. It has been said that Prince - Volkonski and Captain Smyth gave their testimony in favour - of this wonderful professor, out of politeness only. But I - asked the prince alone, how the professor spoke Russian, and - he told me he should be very glad if his own son spoke it as - well. The child spoke English and French better than Russian, - having always been in foreign countries with his father. The - captain said, ‘the professor speaks English better than I do; - we sailors knock the language to pieces on board our vessels, - where we have Scotch and Irish, and foreigners of all sorts; - there is often an odd sort of jargon spoken in a ship; the - professor speaks with correctness, and even with elegance; it - is easy to see that he has studied the language.’ - - “M. Mezzofanti came one day to see me at the hotel where I - was staying: I happened not to be in my own rooms, but on a - visit to another traveller who lodged in the same hotel, Baron - Ulmenstein, a colonel in the King of Hanover’s service, who was - travelling with his lady. M. Mezzofanti was brought to me; and, - as I was the only person who knew him, I introduced him to the - company as a professor and librarian of the university. He took - part in the conversation, which was carried on in German; and, - after this had gone on for a considerable time, the baroness - took an opportunity of asking me aside, how it came to pass - that a German was a professor and librarian in an Italian - university. I replied, that M. Mezzofanti was no German, - that he was a very good Italian, of that city of Bologna, - and had never been out of it. Judge of the astonishment of - all the company, and of the explanations that followed! My - readers, I am sure, will not think such a testimony as the - Baroness Ulmenstein’s open to any suspicion. She is a thorough - German, highly cultivated, and speaks four languages in great - perfection.”[398] - -One result of the doubts thus expressed as to the credibility of Von -Zach’s report was to draw out a testimony to Mezzofanti’s familiarity -with a language for which he had not before publicly gotten credit, the -Czechish or Bohemian. A correspondent of the Baron at Vienna, having -read his statement in the _Correspondance_, expressed his satisfaction -at the confirmation which it supplied of what he had before regarded as -incredible. - - “I was very glad,” he writes, “to see confirmed by you what the - Chevalier d’Odelga, colonel and commandant of Prince Leopold - of Naples’ regiment, told me of that marvellous man. Chevalier - d’Odelga, who is a Bohemian, conversed in that language with - M. Mezzofanti, and assured me that he would have taken him for - a countryman had he not known him to be an Italian. I frankly - confess that until now, I only half believed the tale, for I - regard the Bohemian language as the very rack of an Italian - tongue.”[399] - -Captain (afterwards admiral) Smyth, who accompanied Baron von Zach on -this occasion, still survives, after a career of high professional -as well as literary and scientific distinction. As a reply to the -incredulity to which Von Zach alludes, I may add not only that Admiral -Smyth in his “Cycle of Celestial Objects for the Use of Astronomers,” -adopts the Baron’s narrative and reprints it at length,[400] but that -his present recollections of the interview, which he has been so good as -to communicate to me, fully confirm all the Baron’s statements.[401] The -admiral adds that, although Mezzofanti made no claim to the character of -a practical astronomer, he understood well and was much interested in the -phenomena of the eclipse, and especially in its predicted annularity at -Bologna. “It was at Mezzofanti’s instance also,” he says, “that Caturegli -undertook to compute in advance the elements for an almanac for the use -of certain distant convents of the Levant, to aid them in celebrating -Easter contemporaneously.”[402] - -Startling, therefore, as Von Zach’s account appeared at the time of its -publication, we can no longer hesitate to receive it literally and in its -integrity. - -In reference to one part of it, that which regards the manner in which -Mezzofanti acquired the gipsy language—viz., “that he learned it from a -gipsy soldier in one of the Hungarian regiments quartered at Bologna,” -it is proper to observe, that he appears also, towards the end of his -life, to have studied this dialect from books. The catalogue of his -library contains two Gipsy Grammars, one in German, and one in Italian. -The peculiar idiom of this strange language in which he himself was -initiated, is that which prevails among the gipsies of Bohemia and -Hungary, or rather Transylvania, which is the purest of all the European -gipsy dialects, and differs considerably from that of the Spanish -gipsies. Borrow has given a short comparative vocabulary[403] of both, -and has also printed the Pater Noster in the Spanish gipsy form. - -The notoriety which this and other similar narratives procured for -the modest professor, speedily rendered him an object of curiosity to -every stranger visiting Bologna; and as there was no want of critics -not unwilling to question, or at least to scrutinize, the truth of the -marvels recounted by their predecessors, it may easily be believed that -his life became in some sort a perpetual ordeal. Thus Blume, the author -of the _Iter Italicum_, who visited Bologna some time after Von Zach, -does not hesitate to take the Baron to task, and to declare his account -very much exaggerated. - - “Bianconi and Mezzofanti,” says Blume, “are the librarians. - The latter, as is well known, is considered throughout all - Europe as a linguistic prodigy, a second Mithridates; and is - said to speak and write with fluency two-and-thirty dead and - living languages. Willingly as I join in this admiration, - especially as his countrymen usually display little talent - for the acquisition of foreign tongues, I cannot but remark - that the account recently given in the fourth and fifth - volumes of Von Zach’s ‘Correspondance Astronomique,’ is very - much exaggerated. Readiness in speaking a language should - not be confounded with philological knowledge. I have heard - few Italians speak German as well as Mezzofanti; but I have - also heard him maintain that between Platt-Deutsch, or the - Low German, and the Dutch language, there was no difference - whatever.”[404] - -It will be remarked here, however, that these condemnatory observations -of Herr Blume do not regard Mezzofanti’s attainments as a linguist, but -only his skill as a philologist. On the contrary, to his linguistic -talents Blume bears testimony hardly less unreserved than that which he -criticises in the Baron; and as regards the rest of Blume’s criticism, -the mistake in philology, (as to the identity of Platt-Deutsch with -Dutch,) which he alleges, and which appears to be the sole foundation -of his depreciatory judgment of Mezzofanti’s philological knowledge, is -certainly a very minor one, and one which may be very readily excused -in any other than a German; especially as Adelung (II. 261), distinctly -states of at least one dialect of Platt-Deutsch, that spoken in Hamburg -and Altona, that it contains a large admixture of Dutch words—so large -that a cursory observer, if we may judge from the specimens which -Adelung gives (II. 268), might very readily consider the two dialects -almost identical. As to another statement of Blume’s, which imputes to -Mezzofanti a want of courtesy to strangers visiting or studying in the -library, it is contradicted by the unanimous testimony of all who ever -saw him whether at Bologna or at Rome. He was politeness and good nature -itself. - -But it must not be supposed that all the visits which Mezzofanti received -were of the character hitherto described, and were attended with no fruit -beyond a passing display of his wonderful faculty. Visitors occasionally -appeared, whose knowledge he was enabled to turn to profitable account -in extending his own store of languages. From an Armenian traveller -who came to Bologna in 1818, he received his first initiation in that -difficult and peculiar language, which he afterwards extended in a -visit to the celebrated convent of San Lazzaro, at Venice. He studied -Georgian with the assistance of a young man from Teflis, who graduated -in medicine at Bologna. And even from natives of those countries with -the general language of which he was most familiar, he seldom failed to -learn some of the peculiarities of local or provincial dialects by which -the several branches of each are distinguished. In this way he learned -Flemish from some Belgian students of the university. On the other hand, -select pupils from various parts came to attend his Greek or Oriental -lectures, or to pursue their linguistic studies privately under his -direction. One of these, the Abate Celestino Cavedoni, now librarian of -the Este Library at Modena, and one of the most eminent antiquarians -of Italy, was his pupil from 1816 till 1821. With this excellent youth -Mezzofanti formed a cordial friendship; and after Cavedoni’s return to -Modena, they maintained a steady and affectionate, although not very -frequent, correspondance until Mezzofanti’s final removal from Bologna. -Another was Dr. Liborio Veggetti, the present occupant of Mezzofanti’s -ancient office in the university library, an office which he owes to the -warm recommendation of his former master. A third was the still more -distinguished scholar, Ippolito Rosellini, the associate and successor -of Champollion in his great work on Egyptian antiquities. Rosellini, -who was a native of Pisa, had distinguished himself so much during his -early studies in that university, that, on the death of Malanima, the -professor of oriental languages, in 1819, Rosellini, then only in his -nineteenth year, was provisionally selected to succeed him. It was -ordered, nevertheless, that he should first prepare himself by a regular -course of study; and with this view he was sent, at the charge of his -government, to attend in Bologna the lectures of the great master of -oriental studies. Mezzofanti entered with all his characteristic kindness -and ardour into the young man’s project. He sent him with a warm letter -of recommendation, May 17, 1823, to his friend De Rossi, at Parma; later -in the same year, by the representation which he made of his industry -and progress, he obtained for him an increase of the pension which had -been assigned for his probationary studies; and in the work on the Hebrew -Vowel-points,’ which Rosellini published in Bologna,[405] he owed much to -the kind criticism and advice of his master. He remained at Bologna till -1824, when his appointment was made absolute, and he returned to Pisa to -enter upon its duties. The distinguished after career of Rosellini is -well-known. I shall only add, that through life he entertained the most -grateful recollection of his old master, and that, on his return from the -Egyptian expedition, he made a special visit to Rome for the purpose of -seeing him.[406] - -The Abate Cavedoni, who, on his return to Modena, as we have seen, -continued to correspond for many years with Mezzofanti, has kindly -communicated to me those of Mezzofanti’s letters which he has preserved. -They contain some interesting particulars of a portion of his life -regarding which few other notices have been published. - -In addition to his public lectures in the university and his occupation -as librarian, he still continued to give private instructions in -languages. Mr. Francis Hare, elder brother of the late Archdeacon Julius -Hare, learned Italian under his direction. The Countess of Granville, -then residing in the family of her aunt, the Countess Marescalchi, -remembers to have received her first lessons in English from him. A -young Franciscan of the principality of Bosnia prepared himself for his -mission by studying Turkish under his tuition. Many other foreigners -were among his pupils. Indeed, the ordinary routine of his day, as -detailed by one of his surviving friends in Bologna and confirmed by -his own letters to Cavedoni, may well excite a feeling of wonder at the -extraordinary energy, which enabled him, from the midst of occupations so -continuous and so varied, to steal time for the purpose of increasing, -or even of maintaining, the stores which he had already acquired. He -rose soon after four o’clock, both in winter and in summer; and, after -his morning prayer and meditation, celebrated mass—in winter at the -earliest light; after which he took a cup of chocolate or coffee. At -eight o’clock he gave his daily lecture in the university; thence he -passed to the library, where, as is plain from many circumstances, he -was generally actively engaged in the duties of his office, although -constantly interrupted by the visits of strangers. As his apartments were -in the library building, his occupations can hardly be said to have been -suspended by his frugal dinner, which, according to the national usage, -was at twelve o’clock, and from which he returned to the library. The -afternoon was occupied with his private pupils. As his habits of eating -and drinking were temperate in the extreme, his supper, (sometimes in his -own apartments, sometimes at the house of his sister or of some other -friend,) was of the very simplest kind. He continued his studies to a -late hour; and, even after retiring to bed, he invariably read for a -short time, till the symptoms of approaching sleep satisfied him that, -without fear of loss of time, he might abandon all further thought of -study. - -Such were his ordinary every day occupations; and, amply as they may seem -to fill up the circle of twenty-four hours, he contrived, amidst them -all, to find time for many offices of voluntary charity. He was assiduous -in the confessional, and especially in receiving the confessions of -foreigners of every degree. For the spiritual care of all Catholic -foreigners, indeed, he seems to have been regarded as invested with -a particular commission. In cases of sickness, especially, he was a -constant and most cheerful visitor; and there are not a few still living, -of those that visited Bologna during these years, who retain a lively -and grateful recollection of the kindly attentions, and the still more -consolatory ministrations, for which they were indebted to his ready -charity. - -Another extra-official occupation which absorbed a considerable portion -of his time, was the examination of books submitted to him for revision, -particularly of those connected with his favourite studies. It sometimes -happened that he received such commissions from Rome. “I cannot reckon,” -he writes, apologetically, to his friend the abate Cavedoni, “upon a -single free moment. The library, my professorship, my private lectures, -the revision of books, foreigners, well, sick, or dying, do not leave me -time to breathe. I am fast losing, nay I have already lost, the habit of -applying myself to study; and when, from time to time, I am called on to -do anything, I find myself reduced to the necessity of improvising.” - -The most interesting record of this portion of his life will be the -series of his letters to his friend and pupil Cavedoni, already alluded -to. Unfortunately they are not numerous, and they occur at rather distant -intervals; but they are at least valuable as being perfectly simple and -unstudied, and free, to an extent very unusual in Italian correspondence, -from that artificial and ceremonious character which so often destroys in -our eyes the charm of the cleverest foreign correspondence. Cavedoni, -during his studies at Bologna, had lived on terms of the most cordial -intimacy with his professor and with his family. Mezzofanti’s nephews, -especially the young abate Joseph Mezzofanti, (whom we shall find -commemorated in some of these letters under the pet name _Giuseppino_, -_Joe_,) had been his constant companion and friend. - -The first of these letters was written in reply to one of the ordinary -new-year’s complimentary letters, which the abate Cavedoni, soon after -his return to Modena, had addressed to his old professor. - - _Bologna, January 18, 1822._ - - My most esteemed Don Celestino, - - I did not fail, on the first day of the new year, to pray with - all my heart that God may ever bestow abundantly upon you His - best and sweetest graces. May He deign to hear a prayer, which - I shall never cease to offer! I commend myself in turn to your - fervent prayers. - - I am delighted to hear that the abate Baraldi is about to - employ his various learning and his great zeal so worthily in - the cause of our holy religion. I shall be most happy to take - a copy of the “_Memorie_,” which, as I am informed, are about - to appear under his editorship. May I beg of you to arrange - that the numbers shall reach me as early as possible after - publication? They may be sent through the post; but it will be - necessary to fold the packet in such a way as to let it be seen - that it is a periodical, in order that it may not be charged - the full postage. My great object is to receive the numbers at - the earliest moment, in order that a work which is intended to - counteract the irreligious principles now unhappily so current, - may be read as extensively as possible. - - I shall examine your medal to-morrow, and, should I succeed in - making anything out of it, I will write to you. Let me know how - I shall send it back to you. - - Recollect that we are looking forward here to a visit from - you with the utmost anxiety. It was a great surprise and - disappointment to us, not to see you during the late holy - festivals. Do not forget me, and believe me, - - Ever your most affectionate servant, - - D. Joseph Mezzofanti. - -The journal referred to in this letter is the now voluminous periodical, -“_Memorie di Religione, di Morale, e di Letteratura_,” founded at Modena -in 1822, and continued, with one or two short interruptions, up to the -present time. The “Abate Baraldi” was a learned ecclesiastic, afterwards -arch-priest of Modena. - -Cavedoni, since his return to Modena, had been chiefly engaged in -archæological studies, and especially in that of numismatics. He -often consulted Mezzofanti on these subjects, to which, without being -a professed antiquarian, the latter had given some attention. In -acknowledgment of this obligation, Cavedoni, several years afterwards, -dedicated to him his Spiecilegio Numismatico.[407] - -The following letter throws some light on the time and the manner in -which his attention was first turned to the Georgian language. The youth -to whom it refers was in Bologna in the year 1820 or 1821. - -Cavedoni had apologised for occupying his time by his letters. - - _Bologna, April 5, 1823._ - - My Dear Don Celestino, - - It will always be a most grateful and pleasing distraction - for me in the midst of my endless occupations, to receive - even a line from you. It is true that occasionally I may not - be able to enjoy this gratification without the drawback - arising from regret at not having it in my power to reply to - you immediately; but I trust that you will be able to make - allowance for me, and that such delays on my part will never - cause you to suspect that I have ceased to remember you with - special affection. - - Of the two works which you mention, that of Father Giorgi - still maintains the reputation which its author commanded - during life by his prodigious learning. Will you let me know - whether the little work in Georgian that you refer to is - printed or manuscript? You are quite right in supposing that I - have not thought of that language since the departure of the - young physician of Teflis, who took his medical degree in our - university. Alas! what a large proportion of my life is spent - in teaching! If I but did that well, I might be content; but - when one does too much, he does nothing as it ought to be done. - - I had not heard a word of Signor Baraldi’s affliction, for - which I am much concerned. I trust that, when you write again, - you will have better news for me. Pray present my special - compliments to the Librarian. - - Do not forget me; and, in order that I may know you do not, - write often to assure me that it is so. Don Giuseppino sends - you a thousand greetings, and I myself more than a thousand. - - Ever your most devoted servant and friend, - - D. Joseph Mezzofanti. - -In this year, Mezzofanti made the acquaintance of the celebrated Duchess -of Devonshire, during one of her visits to the north of Italy. The -success of her magnificent edition of Horace’s Fifth Satire—his journey -to Brundusium—had suggested to her the idea of a similar edition of the -Eneid. The first volume, with a series of illustrations, scenical, as -well as historical, (of Troy, Ithaca, Gaeta, Gabii, &c.,) had appeared in -Rome in 1819;[408] and the object of the duchess in this visit, was to -procure sketches in the locality of Mantua, and especially a sketch of -Pietole, the supposed site of the ancient Andes, the place of the poet’s -birth, upon that plain, - - ————tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat - Mincius. - -One of Mezzofanti’s letters, addressed to his friend Pezzana, shews -the lengths to which this eccentric lady carried her zeal for the -illustration of this really magnificent work. Although the second volume -had been already published, and many of the copies had been distributed, -she continued to add to the number of the illustrations. - - “Her Grace, the duchess of Devonshire,” he writes, July 6th, - 1823, “on leaving Bologna, commissioned me to forward to you - the second volume of the Eneid, translated by Caro. In order - to secure its safe and punctual delivery, I begged the good - offices of the Abate Crescini, who had just then arrived; and - he at once undertook it with his usual courtesy. This edition - has won the admiration of all our artists; and the duchess, not - content with its present illustrations, has gone to Mantua, - taking with her another excellent landscape-painter, our - fellow-citizen, Signor Fantuzzi, to make a sketch of Pietole, - to be added to the other plates, which already adorn this - splendid work of art.” - -In August, 1823, died the venerable Pope Pius VII. The desire, which, on -his return from captivity, he expressed to secure Mezzofanti’s services -in his own capital, had been repeated subsequently on more than one -occasion. The new Pope, Leo XII., regarded him with equal favour; but his -attachment to home still remained unchanged; and the Pope named him, in -1824, a member of the Collegio dei consultori at Bologna. - -Of his correspondence during this year no portion has come into my hands; -but there is one of his letters of 1825, (dated April 8th,) which, -although it is but an answer to a commonplace letter written to him by -Cavedoni, with the catalogue of an expected sale of books, seems worthy -to be preserved, at least as an indication of the direction and progress -of his studies. - - “It is always difficult,” he writes, “to fix the fair price of - a class of books which either are not in the market at all, or - which appear but seldom for sale, chiefly because there are - but few who seek for such publications. In my case, it becomes - almost impossible to determine it, as I have no opportunity of - seeing the books, and very little leisure even to examine the - catalogue, being obliged to return it in so short a time. - - “I only venture, therefore, to select a few, which I should be - disposed to take, provided the price of all together shall not - exceed forty Roman crowns. Try to make a bargain for me, or at - all events, endeavour to prevent the books from being either - scattered or buried in some inaccessible corner. - - “I should wish then to take the following:— - - The ‘nine MSS., either extracted from printed books, or of - uncertain value.’ - - The ‘Grammatica Japonica,’ Romæ No. 22, in the Catalogue. - - The ‘Grammatica Marasta,’[409] number 32. - - The ‘Grammatica Linguæ Amharicæ,’[410] number 43. - - The ‘Osservazioni sulla Lingua albanese,’ number 44. - - The ‘Grammatica Damulica,’[411] number 46. - - Benjamin Schulz’s, ‘Grammatica Hindostanica,’ number 50. - - ‘Chilidugu; sive ses Chilenses,’[412] number 67. - - And the ‘Catecismo en Lengua Española y Moxa,’[413] No 71. - - I shall await your reply.” - -Only one of these works, the “Observations on the Albanese Language,” -(by Francis Maria da Lecce,) appears in the catalogue of Mezzofanti’s -Library. Benjamin Schulz’s Tamul Bible and New Testament, are both in -that catalogue, but not his Hindostani Grammar. Probably the price of -the books exceeded the very modest limit which Mezzofanti’s humble means -compelled him to fix. - -In the August of 1825, he had a visit from the veteran philologist and -_literateur_, Frederic Jacobs, of Gotha. The report of Jacobs may be -considered of special importance, as he had been prepared, by the doubts -expressed as to the credibility of Baron Von Zach’s report, to scrutinize -with some jealousy the real extent of the attainments thus glowingly -described. It is important, therefore, to note that after quoting all the -most material portions of Von Zach’s narrative, he fully confirms it from -his own observations— - - “I was most kindly received by him,” says Dr. Jacobs: “we spoke - in German for above an hour, so that I had full opportunity for - observing the facility with which he spoke; his conversation - was animated, his vocabulary select and appropriate, his - pronunciation by no means foreign, and I could detect nothing - but here and there a little of the North German accent. He was - not unacquainted with German literature, spoke among other - things of Voss’s services in the theory of metre, and made - some observations on the imitation of the metrical system of - the ancients. His opinions were precise and expressed without - dogmatism. This fault, so common among persons of talent, - appears quite foreign to him, and there is not a trace of - charlatanism about him.” - -As a somewhat different opinion has been expressed by others, the reader -will observe the testimony borne by Jacobs, not only to Mezzofanti’s -scholarship and philological attainments in a department but little -cultivated, but also to the “selectness and appropriateness” of his -German vocabulary, the “facility with which he spoke,” and the general -purity and correctness of his conversational style. - -He proceeds to describe another peculiarity of Mezzofanti’s extraordinary -faculty which is equally deserving of notice, but which no other visitor -whom we have hitherto seen, has brought out so strongly. - - “Not less remarkable are the ease and readiness with which - he passes in conversation from one language to another, from - the north to the south, from the east to the west, and the - dexterity with which he speaks several of the most difficult - together, without the least seeming effort; and whereas, - in cognate languages, the slightest difference creates - confusion;—so that, for instance the German in Holland or the - Dutchman in Germany, often mixes the sister and mother tongues - so as to become unintelligible;—Mezzofanti ever draws the - line most sharply, and his path in each realm of languages is - uniformly firm and secure.” - -We may also add Professor Jacobs’ description of the personal appearance -of the great linguist at this period of his life. - - “Mezzofanti,” he says, “is of the middle size, or rather below - it; he is thin and pale, and his whole appearance indicates - delicacy. He appears to be between fifty and sixty years old - [he was really, in 1825, fifty-one]; his movements are easy and - unembarrassed; his whole bearing is that of a man who has mixed - much in society. He is active and zealous in the discharge of - his duties, and never fails to celebrate mass every day.”[414] - -I have thought it necessary to draw the reader’s attention to these -points, in reference to Mezzofanti’s German, in order that he may compare -them with the observations of Dr. Tholuck, Chevalier Bunsen, Guido -Görres, and other distinguished Germans, who visited him at a later -period. - -All his later letters to the Abate Cavedoni, which are filled with -apologies for his tardiness as a correspondent, tell the same story of -ceaseless occupation. - - “A Franciscan friar of the Bosnian province,” he writes, - November 23rd, 1825, “who has been learning Turkish with me - for the purposes of his mission in Bosnia, being on his way - to Modena, has called to inquire whether I have any occasion - to write to that city. The remorse which I feel at not having - written to you for so long a time, makes it impossible for me - to give a denial; and I write this letter, into which I wish - I could crowd all the expressions of gratitude which I owe to - you for your constant and faithful remembrance of one, who, - although he certainly never forgets you, yet rarely gives you, - at least in writing, the smallest evidence of his remembrance. - - The truth is that I should only be too happy to do so, and that - it would seem to me but a renewal of the pleasant literary - discussions which we used to hold with one another here. But - unfortunately, I am too much occupied to indulge myself with - this relaxation. I say this, however, only to excuse myself; - for I assure you that I look eagerly for letters from you, and - that it is a great comfort to me to receive one. - - As regards those words terminating in _ite_ which are now - commonly used by medical writers, although their formation is - not grammatically exact, and although they do not precisely - correspond with those which were employed by the ancients, - yet as they have now obtained general currency, it would be - hyper-critical and useless to seek to reform them. You may - satisfy grammarians by a brief annotation to show that you do - not overlook what is due to their art—I mean of course Greek - grammarians; for I suppose our own grammarians will perhaps - prefer the termination which has been sanctioned by use, and - which may possibly appear to them less disagreeable. You see - that I am but repeating your own opinion, and if I did not - write sooner to you on the subject, it was because my own - judgment fully agreed with what you had expressed in your - letter. - - I congratulate you on the success of your brother’s studies. I - have been much gratified by the learning, the industry, and the - zeal for religion, which he has displayed. Offer him my best - thanks. - - Remember me in your prayers: write to me, and believe me - unchangingly yours.” - -The same regrets are still more strikingly expressed in the following -letter. - - “I have been wishing, for several days past, to write and thank - you heartily for your kindness towards me, but it is only this - day that I have been able to steal a moment for the purpose. - Be assured that I do not forget how patiently you bore with - me, while, in the midst of the thousand distractions to which - I was liable, we were reading together the Greek and Oriental - languages. If I recall to your recollection the manner of my - life at that time, and the ever recurring interruptions of my - studies, it is only for the purpose of letting you see that, as - the same state of things still continues, or rather has been - changed for the worse, I have not time to show my gratitude - for your constant remembrance of me. Still I thank you from my - heart for it. - - I have not been able to read much of your Tasso, but I have - observed some readings which appear to me very happy. I told - Count Valdrighi, that I intended to write to you about the - volume which Monsignor Mai has just published, to request - that you, or some others of your friends in Modena, would - take copies of it, as I have some to dispose of. I have since - learned that you are already supplied. I beg, nevertheless, - that you will take some public occasion to recommend it. I - would do so willingly myself, but I cannot find a single free - moment. The library, my professorship, my private lectures, the - examination of books, the visits of strangers, the attendance - on sick or dying foreigners, do not leave me time to breathe. - In all this I possess one singular advantage—the excellent - health with which I am blessed. But on the other hand, I am - losing, or indeed I have already lost, my habit of application; - and now, if I am called from time to time to do anything, I - find myself reduced to the necessity of improvising. - - Forgive me, my dear Don Celestino, for entering thus minutely - into my own affairs. Set it down to the account of our - friendship, in the name of which I beg of you to remember me - in your prayers. Continue to write to me as of old; for, in - the midst of my heaviest occupations, I receive your letters - with the greatest pleasure, and find a real enjoyment in them, - and in the reminiscences which they bring with them of the - happiness that I formerly enjoyed in your dear society. - - My sister and my nephews present their most cordial greetings. - - _Bologna, March, 27, 1826._” - -It is about this time that we may date the commencement of that intimacy -between Mezzofanti and Cardinal Cappellari, afterwards Pope Gregory -XVI., which eventually led to Mezzofanti’s removal from Bologna to Rome. -Cappellari, a distinguished monk of the Camaldolese order, was named to -the cardinalate early in 1826; and soon afterwards was placed at the -head of the congregation of the Propaganda. Being himself an orientalist -of considerable eminence, he had long admired the wonderful gifts of -Mezzofanti, and a circumstance occurred soon after his nomination as -prefect of the Propaganda, which led to a correspondence between them, -in reference to an oriental liturgical manuscript on which the opinion -of the great linguist was desired. Cardinal Cappellari forwarded the -MS. to Mezzofanti, who in a short time returned it, not merely with an -explanation, but with a complete Latin translation. The Cardinal was -so grateful for this service, that he wrote to thank the translator, -accompanying his letter with a draft for a hundred doubloons. Mezzofanti, -with a disinterestedness which his notoriously straitened means made -still more honourable, at once wrote to return the draft, with a request -that it should be applied to the purposes of the missions of the -Propaganda.[415] - -This appeal from Cardinal Cappellari was not a solitary one. Mezzofanti -was not unfrequently consulted in the same way, sometimes on critical -or bibliographical questions, sometimes as to the character or contents -of a book or MS. in some unknown language. One of his letters to the -abate Cavedoni is a long account of an early Latin version of two of St. -Gregory Nazianzen’s minor spiritual poems, the “Tetrasticha” and the -“Monosticha.” As this letter (although not without interest as being the -only specimen of his critical writings which I have been able to obtain) -would have little attraction for the general reader, and throws but -little light upon the narrative, it is unnecessary to translate it.[416] -There is another letter, however, of nearly the same period, addressed -to his friend count Valdrighi of Modena, on the subject of a MS. in the -Birman language submitted by the count for his examination, which will be -read with more curiosity. - - _To Count Mario Valdrighi._ - - “I have to reproach myself for not being more prompt in my - acknowledgement of your polite letter; or rather I regret the - resolution which I formed of delaying my answer in the hope - of being able to make it more satisfactory; since thus it - has turned out, that while I was only waiting in the hope of - being able to reply with greater accuracy, I have incurred the - suspicion of discourtesy, by delaying to send you the little - information regarding your oriental MS. which I possessed at - the time, and which I regret to say is all that even still I am - possessed of. - - Although your MS. is the first in these characters that I - have ever seen, yet I recognized it at once as a MS. written, - or, I should more correctly say, _graven_, in Burmese, the - native language of the kingdom of Ava, and the language also - which is used by all persons of cultivation in the dependent - provinces of that kingdom. I was enabled to recognize the form - of the characters from having once seen the alphabet, which - was printed by the Propaganda, first in 1776, and again in - 1787.[417] - - As my knowledge in reference to the language when I received - your letter, did not extend any farther, I was unable to give - you any other information regarding your MS. except that it - is composed of that species of palm leaves which they use in - that country, for the purpose of inscribing or engraving their - written characters thereon. The tree, which does not differ - much in appearance from the other species of palm, is said - to live for a hundred years, and then to die as soon as it - has produced its fruit; but perhaps it may be said to live on - by preserving on its leaves the writings which they wish to - transmit to posterity. It is called in Burmese (or Birmese) by - the name of _Ole_. - - You will ask what is the character of their writings. The - people are said to be ignorant in the extreme, and even the - class called _Talapuini_, who live together in community in a - sort of Pythagorean college, possess but very little learning. - Their studies are confined to two books, written in a peculiar - character, one entitled _Kammua_, the other _Padinot_.[418] - The Barnabite Fathers also, who founded several churches in - Ava, and preached the gospel with incredible zeal all over - those vast regions, have written in the native language, - several useful books calculated to maintain and increase the - fruit of their apostolic labours. The most remarkable of - them was Mgr. Peristo, who wrote and spoke the language with - great perfection, and whose life has been written by the late - distinguished Father Michael Angelo Griffini. - - I was about to write all this to you as soon as I first - received your MS., but I was anxious to be able to tell you - something more; and with this view, I waited for a long time - in the hope of obtaining from Paris, Carey’s Birmese Grammar, - published at Serampore in 1814, and some other books besides; - as such books must necessarily be in existence, now that the - English have added to their Indian possessions a large tract of - the Birmese Empire. But unfortunately, these books either are - not to be had at Paris, or have not been carefully sought for. - - Accordingly, after all these months of delay, I return you your - Birmese MS. written on the leaves of the Ole palm. It has most - probably found its way to Italy through some missionary, and - perhaps was written by a missionary. This, however, will likely - be discoverable from the facts which are known as to the place - whence it came. - - The information which I am able to give is, you see, very - little compared with what you might have expected, and bears a - still smaller proportion to my desire to oblige you. I should - have wished to translate it all for you, had it been in my - power, if it were only as a means of expressing my gratitude - and my homage to one from whom I receive so many kindnesses, - and to whom I am indebted for so many charming books, either - composed or illustrated by himself. For all these favours it - only remains for me to offer you my most unbounded thanks. I - trust that, if you should chance to honour me again with any - commission, I shall be able to execute it more successfully, - or at all events more satisfactorily. I will at least promise - not to delay as I have now done, in the hope of obtaining more - information; but, relying that your kindness will lead you to - accept what little explanation I shall be able to afford from - myself, I will at least endeavour to show my anxious wish to - oblige by the promptness of my reply.” - -Neither Carey’s Birman Grammar, nor any other modern book on the subject, -appears in the catalogue of Mezzofanti’s library. It comprises, however, -a few Birman books, amongst which are the two alphabets referred to in -the above letter, a translation of Bellarmine’s “Doctrina Christiana,” -and an “Explanation of the Catechism for the use of the Birmese.” These -books (all printed at the Propaganda press) appear to have been procured -after his removal to Rome, where by private study and by intercourse with -a few Birmese students in the Propaganda, he acquired the language, as we -shall see, sufficiently for the purposes of conversation. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -[1828-1830.] - - -In the year 1828, the Crown Prince of Prussia, (now King Frederic -William,) while passing through Bologna, on his way to Rome, sought -an interview with Mezzofanti. In common with all other visitors, he -was struck with wonder at the marvellous variety and accuracy of his -knowledge of languages. On his arrival at Rome, he spoke admiringly of -this interview to Dr. Tholuck, the present distinguished professor of -Theology at Halle, (at that time chaplain of the Prussian Embassy in -Rome,) who has kindly communicated the particulars to me. “The prince -urged me,” says Dr. Tholuck, in an exceedingly interesting letter which -shall be inserted later, “not to leave Italy without having seen him. ‘He -is truly a miracle,’ exclaimed the prince; ‘he spoke German with me, like -a German; with my Privy-Councillor Ancillon, he spoke the purest French; -with Bunsen, English; with General Gröben, Swedish.’ ‘And what is still -more wonderful,’ subjoined M. Bunsen, then minister resident in Rome, -‘all these languages he has learnt by books alone, without any teacher.’” -This opinion of M. Bunsen’s, Dr. Tholuck afterwards ascertained to be a -mistake, or at least an exaggeration. - -It was doubtless to the lessons of his early master, Father Thiulen, -that he owed the knowledge of Swedish which enabled him to converse with -General Gröben. A still more distinct evidence of his familiarity with it -occurred on occasion of the visit of the Crown Prince (now King) Oscar of -Sweden to Bologna. M. Braunerhjelm, now Hof-Stallmastäre at Stockholm, -who was present at the prince’s interview with Mezzofanti, assured Mr. -Wackerbarth, who was good enough to make the inquiry for me last year, -that “the abate spoke the language quite perfectly.” According to another -account which I have received, the prince, having suddenly changed the -conversation into a dialect peculiar to one of the provinces of Sweden, -Mezzofanti was obliged to confess his inability to understand him. What -was his amazement, in a subsequent interview, to hear Mezzofanti address -him in this very dialect! - -“From whom, in the name of all that is wonderful, have you learnt it?” -exclaimed the prince. - -“From your Royal Highness,” replied Mezzofanti. “Your conversation -yesterday supplied me with a key to all that is peculiar in its forms, -and I am merely translating the common words into this form.” - -The Countess of Blessington, in the third volume of her “Idler in -Italy,” has given an account of her intercourse with Mezzofanti during -this year. She adds but little to the facts already known as to -Mezzofanti’s linguistic attainments; but it may not be uninteresting -to contrast with the ponderous and matter of fact sketches of the -professional scholars whom we have hitherto been considering, the -lighter, but in many respects more striking portraiture of a lady -visitor, less capable of estimating the solidity of his learning, but -more alive to the minor peculiarities of his manner, to the more delicate -shades of his character and disposition, and to the thousand minuter -specialities, which, after all, go to form our idea of the man. - -Lady Blessington had been present at the solemn mass in the church of St. -Petronius at Bologna on the morning of the Festival of the Assumption. An -adventure which befel her at the close of the ceremony led to her first -meeting with the great linguist, which she thus pleasantly describes. - - “While viewing the procession beneath the arcades, I was - inadvertently separated from my party, and found myself - hurried along by the crowd, hemmed in at all sides by a moving - mass of strangers who seemed to eye me with much curiosity. - To disentangle myself from the multitude would have been - a difficult, if not an impossible task; and I confess I - experienced a certain degree of trepidation, inseparable from - a woman’s feelings, at finding myself alone in the midst of - a vast throng not one face of which I had ever previously - seen. Great then was my satisfaction at hearing the simple - remark of ‘We have had a very fine day for the fête,’ uttered - in English, and with as good a pronunciation as possible, by - a person having the air and dress of a clergyman, to another - who answered: ‘Yes, nothing could be more propitious than the - weather.’ - - Though it is always embarrassing to address a stranger, the - sound of my own language, and the position in which I was - placed, gave me courage to touch the arm of the first speaker, - and to state, that being separated from my party, I must - request the protection of my countryman. He turned round, - saluted me graciously, said that, though not a countryman, he - would gladly assist me to rejoin my party, and immediately - placed me between him and his companion. - - ‘You speak English perfectly, yet are not an Englishman!’ said - I. ‘Then you can be no other than professor Mezzofanti?’ - - Both he and his companion smiled, and he answered; ‘My name - _is_ Mezzofanti.’ - - I had a letter of introduction from a mutual friend, and, - intending to leave it for him in the course of the day, I had - put it into my reticule, whence I immediately drew it and gave - it to him. He knew the hand-writing at a single glance, and, - with great good breeding, put it unopened into his pocket, - saying something too flattering for me to repeat, in which the - remark, that a good countenance was the best recommendation, - was neatly turned. He presented his companion to me, who - happened to be the Abbé Scandalaria, then staying on a visit to - him, and who speaks English remarkably well. - - My party were not a little surprised to see me rejoin them, - accompanied by and in conversation with two strangers. When - I presented them to my new acquaintances, they were much - amused at the recital of my unceremonious encounter and - self-introduction to Mezzofanti, who not only devoted a - considerable portion of the day to us, but promised to spend - the evening at our hotel, and invited us to breakfast with him - to-morrow. - - The countenance of the wonderful linguist is full of - intelligence, his manner well-bred, unaffected and highly - agreeable. His facility and felicity in speaking French, - German, and English, is most extraordinary, and I am told it - is not less so in various other languages. He is a younger - man than I expected to find him, and, with the vast erudition - he has acquired, is totally exempt from pretension or - pedantry.”[419] - -An adventure with Mezzofanti, quite similar to Lady Blessington’s, befel -a party of Irish ecclesiastical students on their way to Rome in the very -same year. They arrived at Bologna late in the afternoon, and, as they -purposed proceeding on their journey early on the following morning, they -were unwilling to lose the opportunity of seeing and conversing with -the celebrated professor. Accordingly they repaired to the university -library; but, as might be expected at so late an hour, they found the -library closed and the galleries silent and deserted. After wandering -about for a considerable time, in search of some one to whom to address -an inquiry, they at last saw an abate of very humble and unpretending -appearance approach. The spokesman of the party begged of him, in the -best Latin he could summon up at the moment, to point out the way to the -library. - -“Do you wish to see the library?” asked the abate without a moment’s -pause, in English, and with an excellent accent. - -The student was thunderstruck. “By Jove, boys,” he exclaimed turning to -his companions, “this is Mezzofanti himself!” - -It _was_ Mezzofanti; and, on learning that they were Irish, he addressed -them a few words in their native language, to which they were obliged -to confess their inability to reply. One of the number, however, having -learned the language from books, Mezzofanti entered into a conversation -with him on its supposed analogies with Welsh. - -Of this party, five in number, four are now no more. The sole survivor, -Reverend Philip Meyler of Wexford, still retains a lively recollection -not only of the fluency and precision of Mezzofanti’s English, but of the -friendly warmth with which he received them, of the interest which he -manifested in the object of their journey, and of the cordiality of the -“_Iter bonum faustumque!_” with which he took his leave. - -The clergyman alluded to by Lady Blessington, as the “Abbé Scandalaria,” -was, in reality, Padre Scandellari,[420] a learned priest of the -congregation of the Scuole Pie, and one of Mezzofanti’s especial friends. -I was assured by the late Lady Bellew, who knew Padre Scandellari at this -period, that he spoke English quite as well as Mezzofanti. Her ladyship, -(at that time Mademoiselle de Mendoza y Rios) was presented to Mezzofanti -by this father, a few weeks after the visit of Lady Blessington. She was -accompanied by the late Bishop Gradwell, ex-rector of the English College -at Rome, and by her governess, Madame de Chaussegros,[421] a native of -Marseilles. Mezzofanti conversed fluently with Dr. Gradwell in English, -and with Mdlle. de Mendoza, who was a linguist of no common attainments, -in English, French, and Spanish; and when he learned that her companion -was a Marseillaise, he at once addressed her in the Provençal dialect, -which, as the delighted Marseillaise declared, he spoke almost with the -grace and propriety of a native of Provence. - -It will be remembered that the Crown Prince of Prussia, on his arrival at -Rome, counselled Dr. Tholuck not to return to Germany, without visiting -the Bolognese prodigy. Having heard of this interview, which took place -while Dr. Tholuck was returning to Germany, in 1829, I was naturally -anxious to learn what was the impression made upon this distinguished -orientalist, by a visit which may be said to have been undertaken with -the professed design of testing by a critical examination the reality of -the accomplishment of which fame had spoken so unreservedly. Dr. Tholuck, -with a courtesy which I gratefully acknowledge, at once forwarded to -me a most interesting account of his interview, a portion of which has -been already inserted. Dr. Tholuck is known as one of the most eminent -linguists of modern Germany. From the clear and idiomatic English of his -letter, the reader may infer what are his capabilities, as a critical -judge of the same faculty in another. After mentioning M. Bunsen’s -statement, that Mezzofanti had learned his languages entirely from books, -Dr. Tholuck continues:— - - “This seemed the more incredible to me, having just made the - experience as to Italian, how impossible it is to acquire the - niceties of conversational language only from books. On my - return from Rome, having arrived at Bologna, I considered it my - first duty to call on that eminent linguist, accompanied by a - young Dane who was conversant also with the Frisian language, - spoken only by a small remnant of that old nation in Sleswic - or Friesland. Mezzofanti having commenced the conversation - in German, I continued it a quarter of an hour in my native - language. He spoke it fluently, but not without some slighter - mistakes, of which, in that space of time, I noticed as many - as four, which I took notes of immediately after; nor was the - accent a pure German accent, but that of Poles and Bohemians - when they speak German, which is to be accounted for from - his having acquired that language from individuals of that - nation, from Austrian soldiers. Upon this I suddenly turned my - conversation into Arabic, having obtained an easy practice in - this language by long intercourse with a family in which it - was spoken. Mezzofanti made his reply in Arabic without any - hesitation, quite correctly, but very slowly, composing one - word with the other, from want of practice. I then turned upon - Dutch, which he did not know then, but replied in Flemish, a - kindred dialect. English and Spanish he spoke with the greatest - fluency, but when addressed in Danish he replied in Swedish. - The Frisian he had not yet heard of. When requested to write - a line for me, he retired in his study, and, as we had been - talking together on the Persian, which at that time had been - my chief study, and which he was able to converse in, though - very slowly, and composing only words, as was my own case - likewise, he wrote for me a fine Persian distich of his own - composition, though only after long meditation in his study. - In the mean while he permitted me to examine his library. - Turning up a Cornish (of the dialect of Cornwall) Grammar, I - found in it some sheets containing a little vocabulary and - grammatical paradigms, and he told me that his way of learning - new languages was no other but that of our school-boys, by - writing out paradigms and words, and committing to memory. As - to the statement of M. Bunsen, mentioned before, it was not - confirmed by Mezzofanti’s communication: he confessed to have - acquired the conversational language chiefly from foreigners in - the hospitals, in part from missionaries. The number he then - professed to know _well_ was upwards of twenty; those which - he knew imperfectly, almost the same number. Of the poetical - productions of several nations he spoke as a man of taste, but - what we call the philosophy of language he did not seem yet to - have entered upon.” - -Dr. Tholuck, it will be seen, did not suffer himself to be carried -away by the enthusiasm of those who had gone before him. He had eyes -for faults as well as for excellencies. Nevertheless, the reader will -probably agree with me in thinking the undisguised admiration which -pervades his calm and circumstantial statement, even with the drawbacks -which it contains, a more solid tribute to the fame of Mezzofanti than -the declamatory eulogies of a crowd of uninquiring enthusiasts. There -is an irresistible guarantee for his trustworthiness as a reporter upon -Mezzofanti’s German, in the fact that he did not fail to take “a note -of the four minor mistakes,” into which Mezzofanti fell in the course -of their conversation;[422] and one cannot hesitate to receive without -suspicion what he tells of his “speaking Arabic and Persian without any -hesitation, and quite correctly,” when we find him carefully distinguish -between these and the other languages on which he tried him, and note -that in these he proceeded “very slowly, composing one word with another -for want of practice.” It is proper, however, to add that the opportunity -of practice which he afterwards enjoyed at Rome, entirely removed this -difficulty: and the fluency and ease with which Mezzofanti there spoke -these most difficult languages, is the best confirmation of Dr. Tholuck’s -sagacity in ascribing the hesitation which was observable at the time of -his visit to want of practice alone. - -Dr. Tholuck’s letter is specially important, also, as establishing the -fact that Mezzofanti’s acquisitions were by no means so easy, or so much -the result of a species of instinctive intuition as has been commonly -supposed. Many of the circumstances which Dr. Tholuck notes, indicate -labour; all point plainly to successive stages of advancement, to various -degrees of perfection, in a word, to all the ordinary accompaniments -of progress. The little vocabulary and grammatical paradigms of the -Cornish language, an extinct and almost forgotten dialect,[423] -which even our English philologists have come to disregard, tell of -themselves the character of the man. Of course the main attraction of -the Cornish dialect for him, was as one of the representatives of the -old British family; but it cannot be doubted that he took a pleasure in -the systematic pursuit of the structure of a language for the mere sake -of the mental exercise which it involved. I am assured by the Cavalier -Minarelli that the deceased Cardinal’s books and papers[424] contain many -such grammatical and phraseological skeletons, even in languages which -might be supposed to have less interest than that in the study of which -Dr. Tholuck found him engaged.[425] - -In reply to further inquiries which I addressed to him, Dr. Tholuck added: - - “Among the twenty languages which he then professed to know - accurately, he pointed out specially the English and the - Albanese; among these he professed to know imperfectly, was - also the Quichua, or old Peruvian, which he learned from some - of the American missionaries. He mentioned that he was then - engaged in learning the Bimbarra language, studying it from a - catechism translated by a French missionary; an instance which - shows that his _knowing_ a language was in _some_ instances - nothing more than having got a smattering of it, as the - Americans say.[426] - - As to the Persian distich, which it took him about half an - hour to compose, it was an imitation of the distichs in Sadi’s - _Gulistan_,[427] and contained, as is the case with these - distichs, some elegant ἐνθύμησεις.” - -Whether, at any subsequent time, he acquired the Frisian dialect, of -which “he had not yet heard” when Dr. Tholuck visited him, I am unable to -pronounce from any positive information. But I find in his catalogue[428] -several volumes in this language (to which it is highly probable that -this interview called his attention;) not merely elementary books, such -as Rasck’s _Friesche Spraakleer_, but historical works, as for instance, -Wissers’ History, and even such light literature as Japiek’s Collection -of Frisian Poetry.[429] From his known habits I can hardly doubt that, -once having acquired these books, he must at least have made some -progress towards mastering their contents. - -The abate Ubaldo Fabiani, a young Modenese priest of much promise, who, -after completing his studies, had been appointed lecturer in sacred -Scripture and Hebrew in his native university, came to Bologna in 1829, -with letters from the abate Cavedoni to Mezzofanti, under whom he -proposed to perfect himself in Hebrew and other Oriental languages. -Mezzofanti received him with the utmost cordiality; and the great ability -and industry which he exhibited, as well as his exceeding amiableness and -unaffected piety, completely won the heart of his master. On his return -to Modena, after a residence of a few months, Mezzofanti wrote to his -friend Cavedoni. - - _Bologna, 17 October, 1829._ - - “Don Ubaldo Fabiani is just about to return to Modena, after - a sojourn of three months here, the entire of which he has - passed in the midst of books. It would be impossible for me to - describe to you the assiduity, avidity, and perseverance, with - which I have seen him apply to his studies; but I can safely - say that the fruit which he has derived from them has even - exceeded the labour, as he unites with unwearied diligence a - ready wit and a peculiar aptitude for this branch of learning. - The principal object of his attention has been the sacred - Hebrew text; but he has also applied himself to Chaldee, and in - the end to the Rabbinical Hebrew—in all cases with most rapid - progress. Had his time not been so limited, he had intended - to devote himself also to Arabic—a language which has of late - become so necessary an appliance of the polemics of sacred - Scripture. But I have every confidence that he will do this - also, when he shall return another year to Bologna; and I shall - be more than willing to accompany him in this study also. - - I am much indebted to you for having given me an opportunity - of forming the acquaintance of so worthy an ecclesiastic. I - have to thank you also for your learned publications, which - you were kind enough to send me, and which, in the midst of - all my varied occupations, are a source of real pleasure to - me. Forgive my irregularity and tardiness as a correspondent; - or rather do you return good for evil, by writing to me the - more frequently. You will thus do what is most grateful to your - devoted friend.” - -Fabiani had hardly reached Modena when he was seized with fever—the -terrible _perniciosa_ of the Italian summer and autumn—and was carried -off after an illness of a few days, at the early age of twenty-four. As -soon as the melancholy news reached Bologna, Mezzofanti wrote once more -to his friend Cavedoni. - - _Bologna, November 12, 1829._ - - “Death has snatched Don Ubaldo from us! Alas, how much have we - lost in him!—how miserably have we seen all the hopes which we - placed in him, cut off in a single moment! What might we not - have expected from a young ecclesiastic, so entirely devoted to - piety and to letters! - - As for himself, his only aspirations were for heaven. His - studies had no other end or aim, save God: and God has been - pleased to take him to Himself, crowning with an early reward a - virtue which, even in the first flower of years, had attained - to its full maturity. Ah, let us hope that our dear Don Ubaldo, - now close to the Divine Fountain, is there admitted to the - hidden source of the divine oracles, to the study of which he - addressed himself here with such indefatigable application. Now - he will recall to memory, the affectionate care bestowed upon - him here by his parents, by his dear Don Celestino, and even by - his last master—last in merit as well as in time—and will feel - the force of the words which I often repeated to him, never - with more tenderness than at our last parting—‘Ah, Don Ubaldo, - give thyself entirely to the Lord!’ He feels now, I confidently - trust, what a thing it is to ‘belong entirely to the Lord.’ - - Ah, my dear Don Celestino, I should not be acting worthily, if, - on such an event, I gave room for a single moment to earthly - thoughts. Our friend has flown to heaven:—let our hearts also - turn thither, where we hope to meet him in everlasting joy. - Assist me by your prayers to attain this end. When you see - our deceased friend’s parents, comfort them with the true and - blessed consolations which our holy religion bestows; and let - us when, in the Adorable Sacrifice, we offer prayers for those - who are in tribulation, never fail to pray for each other, and - continually strive to disentangle ourselves more and more from - the vanity of the world.” - -The premature death of this excellent young clergyman was felt at Modena -as a real calamity. His friend, the abate Cavedoni, published these -simple but touching letters of Mezzofanti in the _Memorie_[430] of -Modena, as the best testimony which could be offered to the rare merit of -the deceased; but, although already known in Italy, they are well worthy -of being preserved, not merely as a tribute to the memory of the youth -whose death they record, but as representing most truthfully the piety, -the sensibility, the fervour, and above all, the amiable and affectionate -disposition, of the writer himself. - -Soon after the date of these letters was founded at Bologna a literary -Academy, which has some interest in connexion with the history of -Mezzofanti. Like many of the older learned societies of Italy,[431] -it took to itself a somewhat fanciful designation, although one which -falls far short in oddity of those of many among its predecessors;—as -the _Oziosi_, or the _Inquieti_, of Bologna, the _Insensati_ of Perugia, -the _Assorditi_ of Urbino, or (strangest of all), the _Umidi_[432] of -Florence, who carried the fancy so far as to designate themselves by the -names of fish and water-fowls. Mezzofanti and his fellow Academicians -contented themselves with the less startling, though somewhat affected, -title of _Filopieri_, “Lovers of the Muses.” Their Society received the -formal approval of the Congregation of Studies, in the beginning of 1830, -and commenced to hold its meetings in the same year. But, in connexion -with the life of Mezzofanti, it is chiefly memorable for a curious volume -of verses, addressed to him by the members, on the occasion of his -elevation to the Cardinalate.[433] - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -[1831.] - - -Hitherto the Abate Mezzofanti has appeared chiefly, if not exclusively, -as a linguist; and the estimate of his attainments which has long been -current, assumes him to have cultivated that single accomplishment to -the exclusion of all other branches of study. The report, however, of a -visitor, who saw him about the time at which we have now arrived, will be -found to present him in a new character. - -In introducing this notice of him, a brief preliminary explanation -will be necessary—perhaps, indeed, this explanation is indispensable -even in itself; for, although the political history of the period does -not properly fall within the scope of this biography, yet, as the most -important event in the life of Mezzofanti—the transfer of his residence -to Rome—arose directly out of his mission to that capital at the -termination of the Revolution of 1831, it is necessary to revert, at -least in outline, to the most notable occurrences of the preceding years. - -The discontent and turbulence which marked the closing years of the -reign of Pius VII. had in great measure subsided under the impartial -but vigorous administration of Leo XII.; nor was the short pontificate -of his successor, Pius VIII. who succeeded on the 31st of March, -1829, interrupted by any overt expression of popular discontent. It -was well known, nevertheless, throughout this whole period, that an -active secret organization was in existence, not alone in the Papal -States, but in Naples, in the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, in the minor -principalities of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, and indeed throughout -the entire of Italy. Everywhere throughout Italy, too, in addition to -these secret associations, still subsisted a remnant of the old French -or Franco-Italian party, who, while they submitted to the existing -state of things, and offered no resistance to the established regime, -concealing their discontent, and cautiously repressing their aspirations -after the cherished vision of a “united and independent Italy,” yet were -notoriously dissatisfied with the domestic governments, and lost no -opportunity of embarrassing their administration. Of this, in the Papal -States, Bologna had long been the centre. - -The Abate Mezzofanti had never taken any part in political affairs; but -his principles were well known, and his antecedents had long marked him -out as an ardent and devoted adherent of the Papal rule. Personally -inoffensive and amiable as he was, therefore, he was on these grounds, -distasteful to certain members of the anti-papal party. But by the great -body of his fellow-citizens he was regarded as a man of thoroughly -honourable principles; and we shall see that in a crisis of great -delicacy and importance he was selected as one of their delegates to the -court of Gregory XVI. - -It is to these political animosities that allusion is made in the -following extremely interesting account of Mezzofanti. It is from the pen -of the distinguished historian of the mathematical sciences in Italy, M. -Libri; whose name is in itself sufficient to stamp with authority any -statement bearing upon a subject in which he has proved himself a master. - -For this most interesting communication I am indebted to the good offices -of Mr. Watts, to whom it was addressed by M. Libri, in reply to an -inquiry kindly made on my behalf by that gentleman. M. Libri’s letter -is in English, and the purity of its language and elegance of its style -are in themselves no slight evidence of his competence to pronounce -upon Mezzofanti’s accomplishments as a linguist, no less than as a -mathematician. - -M. Libri’s meeting with Mezzofanti occurred at Bologna early in 1830, in -the course of a literary tour in which M. Libri was then engaged. - - “Among all these eminent men, the one that interested me - most was unquestionably the Abbé, (afterwards Cardinal) - Mezzofanti, who was then librarian at Bologna, and respecting - whose astonishing power in languages I had heard the most - extraordinary anecdotes. During a short excursion which I had - previously made to Bologna, I had already got a glimpse of - that celebrated man; but it was not until 1830 that I could - be said to have seen him. I was presented to him by one of - my friends, Count Bianchetti, and I was received by him with - great kindness. He made me promise to go and see him again, - and offered to show me the library. I accepted his offer - eagerly; but it was principally in the hope of having a long - conversation with him that I repaired to the library next day. - - Before going farther, I ought to say that I approached him - with mixed feelings. Personally, I have always been disposed - to respect and admire every man who possesses an incontestible - superiority in any branch of human knowledge; and in this point - of view, M. Mezzofanti, whom every body acknowledges to be the - man who knew and could speak more languages than any other - living man, had certainly a right to boundless admiration on my - part. It was popularly reported at Bologna, that M. Mezzofanti, - then fifty years old, knew as many languages as he counted - years; and I had heard related in respect to him, by men in - whose veracity I have full confidence, so many extraordinary - histories, that he became in my eyes a sort of hero of legend - or romance; but a hero of flesh and blood, who realized or - even surpassed all the wonders attributed to Mithridates as a - linguist. On the other hand, the liberal party, who certainly - had no sympathies with the Abbé Mezzofanti, spread reports - against him, by no means flattering; among which the one - that had most frequently reached my ears, consisted in its - being ceaselessly repeated, that the celebrated librarian at - Bologna was a sort of parrot, endowed with the faculty of - articulating sounds which he had heard, that he was only a - miracle of memory, understanding having nothing to do with - it; and that, independently of this trick of getting words by - heart, this extraordinary man possessed no solid information, - and little philological erudition. Without blindly adopting - this bare assertion, I must acknowledge that the judgment - passed on Mezzofanti by persons of some consideration, had - made an impression upon my mind, far from being favourable to - him: but that impression was soon dissipated in the course of - the interview I had with him. Before leaving Florence, I had - just read and carefully studied the treatise on Indefinite - Algebra, composed several ages before by Brahmegupta, and - which, translated and enriched with an admirable introduction - by Colebroke, had been published in London, in 1817.[434] - Being still filled with admiration for the labours of the - ancient Hindoos on indeterminate analysis, I mentioned the book - casually to Mezzofanti, and merely to show him that even a man - almost exclusively devoted to the study of mathematics, might - take a lively interest in the labours of the Orientalists. I - had no intention of introducing a scientific conversation on - this subject with the celebrated librarian; and I must even - add, that I thought him quite incapable of engaging in one. How - great then was my surprise, when I saw him immediately seize - the opportunity, and speak to me during half an hour on the - astronomy and mathematics of the Indian races, in a way which - would have done honour to a man whose chief occupation had been - tracing the history of the sciences. Deeply astonished at so - specific a knowledge, which had taken me quite unexpectedly, I - eagerly sought explanation from him on points which had seemed - to me the most difficult in the history of India; such, for - instance, as the probable epoch when certain Indian astronomers - had lived, before the Mahometan conquest, and how far those - astronomers might have been able, directly or indirectly, to - borrow from the Greeks. On all those points Mezzofanti answered - on the spot, with great modesty, and as a man who knows how - to doubt; but proving to me at the same time, that those were - questions on which his mind had already paused, and which he - had approached with all the necessary accomplishment of the - accessory sciences. I cannot express how much that conversation - interested me; and I did not delay to testify to Mezzofanti - all the admiration which knowledge at once so varied and so - profound, had excited in me. No more was said of visiting - the library, or of seeing books. I had before me a most - extraordinary living book, and one well calculated to confound - the imagination. Encouraged by his courtesy and modesty, I - could not resist my desire of putting questions to him on the - mode which he had employed in making himself master of so many - languages. He positively assured me, but without entering - into any detail, that it was a thing less difficult than was - generally thought; that there is in all languages a limited - number of points to which it is necessary to pay particular - attention; and that, when one is once master of those points, - the remainder follows with great facility. He added, that, - when one has learned ten or a dozen languages essentially - different from one another, one may, with a little study and - attention, learn any number of them. I strenuously urged him - to publish his experience on the subject and on the result of - his labours; but I observed in him a great aversion to the - publication of his researches. He affirmed that the more we - study, the more do we understand how difficult it is to avoid - falling into errors; and, in speaking to me of several writings - which he had composed, he told me that they were only essays - which by no means deserved to see the light. In the midst of - the conversation, as I was still urging him, he rose and went - to look in a box for a manuscript with coloured designs, which - he showed me, and which had for its object the explanation of - the Mexican hieroglyphics. Having begged him to publish at - least that work, he told me that it was only an essay, still - imperfect, and that his intention was to recast it completely. - - This excursion to America suggested to me the idea of putting a - new question to him. I had collected at Florence, particularly - with relation to bibliography, several translations of the - whole Bible, or certain portions of the sacred books, in - different foreign languages. Some of these translations were - into languages spoken by North American savages; and in - looking through them I had been struck with the measureless - length[435] of most of the words of these tongues. Since the - opportunity presented itself naturally, I asked M. Mezzofanti - what he thought of those words, and whether the men who spoke - languages apparently so calculated to put one out of breath, - did not seem to be endowed with peculiar organs. Immediately - taking down a book written in one of those languages, the - celebrated linguist showed me practically how, in his opinion, - the savages managed to pronounce these interminable words, - without too much trouble. For fear of making mistakes, I cannot - venture, after twenty-five years, to reproduce this explanation - from memory. According to my usual practice, I had written - out, on my return home, the conversation which I had just had - with the celebrated linguist, and if I still possessed that - part of my journal you would find there almost the exact words - of the Abbé Mezzofanti; but those papers having been taken - away from me by people who, under a pretext as ridiculous as - odious, despoiled me, after the revolution of 1848, of all that - I possessed at Paris, I must confine myself to mentioning the - fact of the explanation which was given to me, without being - able to tell you in what that explanation consisted. - - After what I have just recounted to you, I could add nothing - to express to you the opinion which that long conversation - with M. Mezzofanti (which during the few days that I passed at - Bologna was followed by some other interviews much shorter, and - as it were fugitive,) left in my mind on the subject of the - erudition, as profound as it was various, of that universal - linguist. As, however, I express here an opinion which - certainly was not that of everybody, permit me to corroborate - that opinion by the testimony of Giordani, a man not only - celebrated in Italy for the admirable purity of his style, but - who also enjoyed deserved reputation as a profound Grecian, and - a consummate Latin scholar. The testimony of Giordani on the - subject of the Abbé Mezzofanti is the more remarkable, because, - besides Giordani’s having (as is generally known) a marked - antipathy for the ultra-catholic party to which Mezzofanti - was thought to belong, he and the Abbé had had some little - personal quarrels the remembrance of which was not effaced. - Notwithstanding this, I read in the letters of Giordani lately - published at Milan, that, in his opinion, Mezzofanti was quite - a superior man.” - -M. Libri[436] proceeds to cite several passages from Giordani’s letters, -which, as I have already quoted them in their proper place, it is -needless to repeat here. Indeed no additional testimony could add weight -to his own authority on any of the subjects to which he refers in this -most interesting letter. - -Soon after this interview, the quiet of Mezzofanti’s life was interrupted -for a time. The Revolution of Paris in July, 1830, and the events in -Belgium and Poland by which it was rapidly followed, were not slow to -provoke a response in Italy. The long repressed hopes of the republican -party were thus suddenly realised, and the organization of the secret -societies became at once more active and more extended. For a time the -prudent and moderate policy adopted by Pius VIII. in reference to the -events in France, had the effect of defeating the measures of the Italian -revolutionists; but his death on the thirtieth of November in that year, -appeared to afford a favourable opportunity for their attempt. During the -conclave for the election of his successor, all the preparations were -made. The stroke was sudden and rapid. The very day after the election -of Gregory XVI., but before the news had been transmitted from Rome, an -outbreak took place at Modena. It was followed, on the next day, by a -similar proceeding at Bologna,—by the calling out of a national guard, -and the proclamation of a provisional government. The Papal delegate was -expelled from Bologna. The Duke of Modena fled to Mantua. Maria Louisa, -Duchess of Parma, took refuge in France. And on the 26th of the same -month, deputies from all the revolted states, by a joint instrument, -proclaimed the United Republic of Italy! - -This success, however, was as short-lived as it had been rapid. The duke -of Modena was reinstated by the arms of Austria on the 9th of March. -Order was restored about the same date at Parma: and, before the end of -the month of March, all traces of the revolutionary movement had for the -time disappeared throughout the States of the Church.[437] - -It has been customary for the cities and _communi_ of the Papal States on -the accession of each new Pontiff, to send a deputation of their most -notable citizens to offer their homage and present their congratulations -at the foot of the throne. Many of the chief cities had already complied -with the established usage.[438] Bologna, restored to a calmer mind, -now hastened to follow the example. Three delegates were deputed for -the purpose—the Marchese Zambeccari, Count Lewis Isolani, and the abate -Mezzofanti. They arrived in Rome in the beginning of May,[439] and on -the 9th of the same month, were admitted to an audience of the Pope, -who received them with great kindness, and inquired anxiously into the -condition of Bologna, and the grievances which had given occasion to the -recent discontents. - -To Mezzofanti in particular the Pope showed marked attention. It had -been one of his requests to Cardinal Opizzoni, the archbishop, when -returning to Bologna on the suppression of the Revolution, that he -should send Professor Mezzofanti to visit him. He still remembered -the disinterestedness which the professor had shewn in their first -correspondence; and the time had now come when it was in his power to -make some acknowledgment. A few days after Mezzofanti’s arrival he was -named domestic prelate and proto-notary apostolic, and at his final -audience before returning to Bologna, the pope renewed in person the -invitation to settle permanently in Rome, which had formerly been made -to him by Cardinal Consalvi on the part of Pius VII. Mezzofanti was -still as happy in his humble position as he had been in 1815. He still -retained his early love for his native city and for the friends among -whom he had now begun to grow old. But to persist farther would be -ungracious. He could no longer be insensible to a wish so flattering and -so earnestly enforced. It was not, however, until, as the Pope himself -declared, “after a long siege,” (_veramente un assedio_) that he finally -acquiesced;—overpowered, as it would seem, by that genuine and unaffected -cordiality which was the great characteristic of the good Pope Gregory -XVI. - -“Holy Father,” was his singularly graceful acknowledgment of the kind -interest which the Pope had manifested in his regard, “people say that I -can speak a great many languages. In no one of them, nor in them all, can -I find words to express how deeply I feel this mark of your Holiness’s -regard.” - -It is hardly necessary to say that one of the very first visits which he -paid in Rome, was to the Propaganda. On the morning after his arrival, -the feast, as it would seem, of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, he -went to the sacristy with the intention of saying mass; and having, -with his habitual retiringness, knelt down to say the usual preparatory -prayers without making himself known, he remained for a considerable -time unobserved and therefore neglected. He was at length recognised by -Dr. Cullen, the present archbishop of Dublin, (at that time professor of -Scripture in the Propaganda,) who at once procured for the distinguished -stranger the attention which he justly deserved in such an institution. -It is a pleasing illustration, at once of the retentiveness of his memory -and of the simple kindliness of his disposition, that in an interview -with Dr. Cullen not very long before his death, he reminded him of this -circumstance, and renewed his thanks even for so trifling a service. -After mass, he made his way, unattended, to one of the _camerate_, or -corridors. The first room which he chanced to meet was that of a Turkish -student, named Hassun, now archbishop of the United Greek Church at -Constantinople. He at once entered into conversation with Hassun in -Turkish. This he speedily changed to Romaic with a youth named Musabini, -who is now the Catholic Greek bishop at Smyrna. From Greek he turned to -English, on the approach of Dr. O’Connor, an Irish student, now bishop -of Pittsburgh in the United States. As the unwonted sounds began to -attract attention, the students poured in, one by one, each in succession -to find himself greeted in his native tongue; till at length, the bell -being rung, the entire community assembled, and gave full scope to the -wonderful quickness and variety of his accomplishment. Dr. O’Connor -describes it as the most extraordinary scene he has ever witnessed; and -he adds a further very remarkable circumstance that, during the many -new visits which Mezzofanti paid to the Propaganda afterwards, he never -once forgot the language of any student with whom he had spoken on this -occasion, nor once failed to address him in his native tongue. - -The deputation returned to Bologna in the end of June. Mezzofanti -accompanied it, but only for the purpose of making arrangements for his -permanent change of residence. - -He had accepted the commission with exceeding reluctance, and it is -painful to have to record that on this, the only occasion on which he -consented to leave his habitual retirement, he was not suffered to escape -his share of the rude shocks and buffets which seem to be inseparable -from public life. - -All who were most familiar with Mezzofanti, to whatever party in -Italian politics they belonged, have borne testimony to the sincerity -of his convictions and the entire disinterestedness of his views—a -disinterestedness which had marked the entire tenor of his life, and had -been attested by long and painful sacrifices. Nevertheless, on the return -of the Bolognese deputation from Rome, he had the mortification to find -his conduct misrepresented and his motives maligned. The marked attention -which he had experienced at the hands of the Pope, was made a crime. -His simple and long-tried loyalty—the spontaneous homage which a mind -such as his renders almost by instinct—was denounced as the interested -subserviency of a courtier; and the favours which had been bestowed on -him in Rome, were represented as the price of his treason to Bologna. - -Mezzofanti felt deeply these ungenerous and unfounded criticisms. His -health was seriously affected by the chagrin which they occasioned; and -these memories of his last days in Bologna often clouded in after years -the happier reminiscences of his native city on which his mind delighted -to dwell. - -Owing to the unsettled condition of Italy during this year, but few -Englishmen visited Bologna. Among these were Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, -Canon of Westminster (who also saw Mezzofanti in the following year in -Rome,) and Mr. Milnes, of Frystone Hall, Yorkshire, father of the poet, -Mr. Richard Monckton Milnes. The latter was much amused by Mezzofanti’s -proposing, when he heard he was a Yorkshire man, to speak Welsh with him, -“_as Yorkshire lay so near Wales!_” - -It would hardly be worth while to note this amusing blunder in English -topography, (a blunder more remarkable in Mezzofanti, as in all -geographical details he was ordinarily extremely accurate,) were it not -that it is another testimony on the disputed question of his acquaintance -with the Welsh language. - -He left Bologna finally for Rome in October, 1831. The Pope afterwards -used jokingly to say, that “the acquisition of Mezzofanti for Rome was -the only good that came of the Revolution of Bologna in 1831.” By the -kind care of the Pope, he was provided with apartments in the Quirinal -Palace, nearly opposite the Church of Saint Andrew—the same apartments at -the window of which the lamented Monsignor Palma was shot during the late -Revolution. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -[1831-33.] - - -It is one of Rochefoucauld’s maxims, that “in order to establish a great -reputation, it is not enough for one to possess great qualities, he must -also economize them.” If Mezzofanti had desired to act upon this prudent -principle, he could not possibly have chosen a worse position than Rome. - -From the very moment of his arrival there, his gift of language was -daily, and almost hourly, exposed to an ordeal at once more varied and -more severe than it would have encountered in any other city in the -world. Without taking into account the many eminent linguists, native -and foreign, for whom Rome has ever been celebrated; without reckoning -the varying periodical influx of sight-seers, from every country in -Europe, who are attracted to that city by the unrivalled splendour -of her sacred ceremonial, and the more constant, though less noisy, -stream of pilgrims from the remotest lands, who are drawn by duty, by -devotion, or by ecclesiastical affairs, to the great centre of Catholic -unity;—the permanent population of the Eternal City will be found to -comprise a variety of races and tongues, such as would be sought in -vain in any other region of the earth. From a very early period, the -pious liberality, sometimes of the popes, sometimes of the natives -of the various countries themselves, began to found colleges for the -education, under the very shadow of the chair of Peter, of at least a -select few among the clergy of each people; and, notwithstanding the -confiscations of later times, there are few among the more prominent -nationalities which do not even still possess in Rome, either a special -national establishment, or, at least, a special foundation for national -purposes in some of the many general establishments of the city. In -like manner, most of the great religious orders, both of the East and -of the West, possess separate houses for each of the countries in which -they are established; and few, even of the most superficial visitors of -Rome, can have failed to observe, among the animated groups which throng -the Pincian Hill or the Strada Pia, at the approach of the Ave Maria, -the striking variety of picturesque costumes by which these national -orders are distinguished. Each, again, of the several rites in communion -with the Holy See—the Greek, the Syrian, the Coptic, the Armenian—has, -for the most part, an archbishop or bishop resident at Rome, to afford -information or counsel on affairs connected with its national usages, and -to take a part in all the solemn ceremonials, as a living witness of the -universality of the Church. - -But before all, and more than all, is the great Urban College—the college -of the Propaganda—which unites in itself all the nationalities already -described, together with many others of which no type is found elsewhere -in Europe. Every variety of language and dialect throughout the wide -range of western Christendom;—every eastern form of speech - - From silken Samarcand to cedared Lebanon; - -many of the half explored languages of the northern and southern -continents of America; and more than one of the rude jargons of north -and north-eastern Africa, may be found habitually domiciled within its -walls. In the year 1837, when Dr. Wap, a Dutch traveller, who has written -well and learnedly on Rome, visited the establishment, the hundred and -fourteen students who appeared upon its register, comprised no less than -forty-one distinct nationalities.[440] - -Amid the vast variety of speech with which he was thus brought habitually -into contact, Mezzofanti, even if he had desired to “economize” his -reputed gifts, could not possibly have done so without provoking a -suspicion of their questionableness, or at least of their superficial -character. Nor, on the other hand, would he have ventured to expose -the undeniable reputation which he had already established, although -upon a provincial theatre, to the ordeal which awaited him in the great -centre of languages, living or dead, had he not been supported by the -consciousness of the reality of his attainments, as well as attracted by -the very prospect of increased facilities for pursuing and extending the -researches which had been the business and the enjoyment of his life. At -all events, we shall see that from the first moment of his establishment -in Rome, so far from having “economized” his extraordinary faculty of -language, he was most assiduous, and in truth prodigal, in its exercise. - -Immediately on his arrival he was appointed canon of the church of Santa -Maria Maggiore. This, however, was but an earnest of the intentions of -the Pope, who, from the first, destined him for the highest honours of -the Roman Church. It is clear, nevertheless, from his correspondence, -that his affections still clung to his beloved Bologna. On occasion of -his first new year in his new residence, he received many letters from -his old friends, conveying to him the ordinary new year’s greetings. From -his reply to one of these letters which was addressed to him by a friend, -Signor Michele Ferrucci, professor of Eloquence in the university, we may -gather how warm and cordial were the attachments which he had left behind. - - _Rome, January 4, 1852._ - - “The new-year greetings which, for so many years, I used to - receive from you in person, were always most grateful to me, - because I knew them to be the genuine expression of your - affection for me. In like manner the kind wishes conveyed in - your letter are no less acceptable, since they show me that - separation has not diminished your regard. I shall always - retain a lively sense of it; and wherever I may be, it shall - be my endeavour to give proofs by my conduct that I am not - insensible to it. Let one of these be the assurance of my most - zealous exertions to secure for you the change of position - which you are seeking, from the chair of eloquence to that - of assistant professor of archæology. I think it advisable - that means should be taken to make known here the wishes - of the professor himself, the Canonico Schiassi; and it is - indispensable that the measure should not only originate with - his eminence the arch-chancellor, but should have his most - earnest support. So far as I am concerned, I shall leave - nothing undone that may tend to further your wishes. - - I was deeply affected in reading your wife’s sonnets on the - death of her sister and her father. May God grant that, this - great affliction past, a heart so full of tenderness as hers, - may meet nothing in life but joy and consolation in the - continued prosperity of her dear family! Present my respects - to her, and make my compliments to my old associates in the - library. I never for a single day forget that happy spot, and I - seldom cease to speak of it. - - If there be any matter in which I can be of use to you, I beg - of you not to spare me.” - -One of Mezzofanti’s first impulses on his being established in Rome, -was to turn to account, as a means of extending his store of languages, -the manifold advantages of his new position. On a careful survey of -the rich and varied resources supplied by the foreign ecclesiastical -establishments of Rome, and especially by the great treasure-house of the -Propaganda, he found that there was one language, and that a language to -which he had long and anxiously looked forward—the Chinese—which was, as -yet, entirely unrepresented; the native students destined for the mission -of China, being at that time exclusively educated in the Chinese College -at Naples. It happened most opportunely that at this time Monsignor de -Bossi, (afterwards administrator Apostolic of Nankin), was about to visit -that institution, and proposed to Mezzofanti to accompany him;—a proposal -which, as filling up agreeably the interval of rest which he enjoyed -before entering upon the routine of the duties which awaited him, he -gladly accepted. - -The Chinese College of Naples was founded in 1725, by the celebrated -Father Matthew Ripa,[441] with the permission of the reigning Pope -Benedict XIII, and was formally approved by a bull of Clement XIII, -April 5, 1732.[442] In the earlier and more favoured days of the Chinese -mission, although it was chiefly supplied by European clergy, yet the -missionaries freely opened, not alone elementary schools, but seminaries -for the training of native catechists who assisted in the work of the -mission, even within the precincts of the Imperial City. But the unhappy -divisions among the missionaries upon the well-known question, as to -the lawfulness of the so-called “Chinese ceremonies;” and the severe -enactments which followed the final and decisive condemnation of these -ceremonies by Clement XI., not only cut off all hope of this domestic -supply of catechists, but effectually excluded all European missionaries -from the Chinese Empire. The only hope, therefore, of sustaining the -mission was to provide a supply of native clergy, who might pass -unnoticed among the population, or who would at least possess one chance -of security against detection, which the very appearance of a foreigner -would preclude. With this view, Father Ripa brought together at Pekin a -small number of youths, whom he hoped to train up under a native master, -engaged by him for the purpose. A short experience of this plan, however, -convinced him, not merely of its danger, but even of its absolute -impracticability; and he saw that the only hope of success for such an -institution would be, not only to place the establishment beyond the -reach of persecution from the Chinese authorities, but, (as the great -Pope Innocent III. had contemplated a college at Paris for native Greek -youths),[443] even to withdraw the candidates altogether for a time -from the contagion of domestic influences and domestic associations. -Himself a Neapolitan, (having been born at Eboli, in the kingdom of -Naples,) Ripa’s thoughts naturally turned to his own country for the -means of accomplishing his design; and, after numberless difficulties, -he succeeding in transferring to his native city, under the name of “the -Holy Family of Jesus Christ,” the institution which he had projected at -Pekin. It consists of two branches, the college, and the congregation. -The latter is an association of priests and lay brothers, (not bound, -however, by religious vows), very similar in its constitution to the -Oratory of St. Philip Neri. The object of their association is the care -and direction of the College. - -The College, on the other hand, is designed for the purpose of -educating and preparing for the priesthood, or at least for the office -of catechist, natives of China, Cochin China, Pegu, Tonquin, and -the Indian Peninsula. They are maintained free of all cost, and are -conducted to Europe and back to their native country at the charge of the -congregation; merely binding themselves to devote their lives, either -as priests or as catechists, to the duties of their native mission, -under the direction and jurisdiction of the sacred congregation of the -Propaganda. Since the time of the withdrawal of the European missionaries -from China, the mission has relied mainly upon this admirable -institution; and even still its members continue to deserve well of the -Church. The priest, Francis Tien, whose cruel sufferings for the faith -are detailed by Mgr. Rizzolati in a letter published in the Annals of -the Propagation of the Faith, July 1846, was a pupil of this college. So -likewise is the excellent and zealous priest, Thomas Pian, who recently -volunteered his services to the Propaganda as a missionary to the Chinese -immigrants in California. - -At the time of Mezzofanti’s visit, March 23, 1832, the superior of the -college of the Congregation was Father John Borgia, the last direct -representative of the noble family of that name. He received the great -linguist with the utmost cordiality; and during the entire time of -his sojourn, the students and superiors vied with each other in their -attentions to their distinguished guest. From the moment of his arrival -he had thrown himself with all his characteristic energy into the study -of the language; and notwithstanding its proverbial difficulty, and -its even to him entirely novel character, he succeeded in an incredibly -short time in mastering all the essential principles of its rudimental -structure. Most unfortunately, however, before he had time to pursue -his advantage, his strength gave way under this excessive application, -and he was seized with a violent fever,[444] by which his life was for -some time seriously endangered. The fever was attended by delirium, -the effect of which, according to several writers[445] who relate the -circumstance, was to confuse his recollection of the several languages -which he had acquired, and to convert his speech into a laughable jumble -of them all. This, however, although an amusing traveller’s story, is but -a traveller’s story after all. Mezzofanti himself told Cardinal Wiseman -that the effect of his illness was not merely to confuse, but to _suspend -his memory altogether_. He completely forgot all his languages. His mind -appeared to return to its first uneducated condition of thought, and -whatever he chanced to express in the course of his delirium was spoken -in simple Italian, as though he had never passed outside of its limits. - -He was so debilitated by this illness, that immediately upon his -convalescence it became necessary for him to return to Rome without -attempting to resume his Chinese studies. Most opportunely, however, -for his wishes, the authorities of the Propaganda some years afterwards -transferred to Rome, as we shall see, a certain number of these Chinese -students, with the view of enabling them to complete with greater -advantage in the great missionary college the studies which they had -commenced in what might almost be called a domestic institution. -With their friendly assistance Mezzofanti completed what had been so -inauspiciously interrupted by his illness.[446] - -The fatigues of the homeward journey brought on a renewal of the fever; -and for some weeks after his return to Rome, (from which he had been -absent about two months,) he suffered considerably from its effects. -Happily, however, it left no permanent trace in his constitution, and -the autumn of 1832 found him engaged once more with all his usual energy -in his favourite pursuit. The intention of the Pope in inviting him -to Rome, had been to place him at the head of the Vatican Library, as -successor of the celebrated Monsignor Angelo Mai, then First Keeper of -that collection, who was about to be transferred to the Secretaryship -of the Propaganda. The arrangements connected with this change of -offices, however, were not yet completed, and Mezzofanti availed -himself industriously of this interval of comparative leisure which the -delay placed at his disposal. His position at Rome brought him into -contact with several languages of which he had never before met any -living representative; and many of those which he had hitherto had but -rare and casual opportunities of speaking or hearing spoken were now -placed within his reach as languages of daily and habitual use. In the -Maronite convent of Sant’ Antonio he had ancient and modern Syriac, with -its various modifications, at his command. For Armenian, Persian, and -Turkish, the two learned Mechitarist communities of San Giuseppe and -Sant’ Antonio supplied abundant and willing masters. One of these, the -eminent linguist Padre Aucher, whose English-Armenian Grammar Lord Byron -more than once commemorates as their joint production,[447] was himself -master of no less than twelve languages. To the Ruthenian priests of S. -Maria in Navicella, he could refer for more than one of the Sclavonic -languages. The Greek college of St. Athanasius, owing to the late -troubles in Greece, was then untenanted, but there were several Greek -students in the Propaganda, awaiting its re-opening, which took place -in 1837. The celebrated Persian scholar, Sebastiani, had just recently -returned to Rome. Signor Drach, a learned Hebrew convert, was Librarian -of the Propaganda; and a venerable Egyptian priest, Don Georgio Alabada, -supplied an opportunity of practice in the ancient Coptic, as well as in -the Arabic dialect of modern Egypt. - -In the German College were to be found not only all the principal tongues -of the Austrian Empire, German, Magyar, Czechish and Polish, but many -of its more obscure languages—Romanic, Wallachian, Servian, and many -minor varieties of German, Rhetian, (the dialect of the Graubünden, or -Grisons) Dutch, Flemish, and Frisian. In reference to some of these -languages, I have been able to avail myself of the recollections of more -than one student of this noble institution, as witness of Mezzofanti’s -extraordinary proficiency. - -He was on terms of the closest intimacy with the Abbé Lacroix, of the -French church of St. Lewis, since known as the editor of the _Systema -Theologicum_ of Leibnitz. The Rector of the English College, Dr. (now -Cardinal) Wiseman, even then a distinguished orientalist, and professor -of oriental languages in the Roman university, and the Rector of the -Irish College, the present Archbishop of Dublin, were his especial -friends. In both these establishments, he was a welcome and not -unfrequent visitant. - -The several embassies, also, afforded another, though of course less -familiar school. He often met M. Bunsen, the Minister Resident of -Prussia; he was frequently the guest of the Marquis de Lavradio, the -Portuguese ambassador, and Don Manuel de Barras, whose letter attesting -the purity and perfection of Mezzofanti’s Castilian, is now before me, -was an attaché of the Spanish Embassy. - -The Propaganda, however, itself a perfect microcosm of language, was -his principal, as well as his favourite school. For his simple and -lively disposition, the society of the young had always possessed a -special charm; and to his very latest hour of health, he continued to -find his favourite relaxation among the youths of this most interesting -institution. In summer, he commonly spent an hour, in winter an hour -and a half, in the Propaganda, partly in the library, partly among the -students, among whom he held the place alternately of master and of -pupil;—and, what is still more curious, he occasionally appeared in both -capacities, first learning a language from the lips of a student, and -then in his turn instructing his teacher in the grammatical forms and -constitution of the very language he had taught him! - -Independently, indeed, of study altogether, the Propaganda was for years -his favourite place of resort, and there was no place where his playful -and ingenuous character was more pleasingly displayed. He mixed among the -pupils as one of themselves, with all the ease of an equal, and without -a shade of that laborious condescension which often makes the affability -of superiors an actual penance to those whom they desire to render -happy. While the cheerfulness of his conversation was often tempered -by grave advice or tender exhortation, it was commonly lively and even -playful, and frequently ran into an amusing exhibition which those who -witnessed never could forget. In the free and familiar intercourse -which he encouraged and maintained, there sometimes arose sportive -trials of skill, in which the great amusement of his young friends -consisted in endeavouring to puzzle him by a confusion of languages, -and to provoke him into answering in a language different from that in -which he was addressed. The idea of these trials (which reminded one of -the old-fashioned game of “cross-question,”) appears to have originated -in a good-humoured surprise, which the Pope Gregory XVI. played off on -Mezzofanti soon after his arrival in Rome. The linguist, however, was -equal to the emergency. Like the good knight, Sir Tristram, he proved - - “Most master of himself, and least encumbered, - When over-matched, entangled, and outnumbered.” - -“One day,” says M. Manavit, “Gregory XVI. provided an agreeable surprise -for the polyglot prelate, and a rare treat for himself, in an improvised -conversation in various tongues—a regular linguistic tournament. Among -the mazy alleys of the Vatican gardens, behind one of the massive walls -of verdure which form its peculiar glory, the Pope placed a certain -number of the Propaganda students in ambuscade. When the time came for -his ordinary walk, he invited Mezzofanti to accompany him; and, as they -were proceeding gravely and solemnly, on a sudden, at a given signal, -these youths grouped themselves for a moment on their knees before his -Holiness, and then, quickly rising, addressed themselves to Mezzofanti, -each in his own tongue, with such an abundance of words and such a -volubility of tone, that, in the jargon of dialects, it was almost -impossible to hear, much less to understand them. But Mezzofanti did -not shrink from the conflict. With the promptness and address which were -peculiar to him, he took them up singly, and replied to each in his own -language, with such spirit and elegance as to amaze them all.” - -In addition to these increased opportunities of exercise, he also derived -much assistance, in the more obscure and uncommon department of his -peculiar studies, from the libraries of Rome, and especially from that -of the Propaganda. The early elementary books, grammars, vocabularies, -catechisms, &c., prepared for the use of missionaries in the remote -missions, have for the most part been printed at the Propaganda press: -and the library of that institution contains in manuscript similar -elementary treatises in languages for the study of which no printed -materials existed at that time. To all these, of course, the great -linguist enjoyed the freest access; and it can hardly be doubted -that, during the first year of his residence in Rome, he did more to -enlarge his stock of words, and to perfect his facility and fluency in -conversation, than perhaps in any previous year of his life. - -Immediately upon Mgr. Mai’s appointment to the Secretaryship of -the Propaganda, May 15th, 1833, Mezzofanti was installed as _Primo -Custode_, First Keeper of the Vatican Library; and about the same time -he was appointed to a Canonry in St. Peter’s. In the midst of the warm -congratulations which he received from all sides, it was not without -considerable distrust of his own powers, that he entered upon the office -of Librarian, as the successor of a scholar so eminent as Angelo Mai. - - “It is no ordinary distinction,” he wrote to his friend Cav. - Pezzana, “to be called to succeed Mgr. Mai in the care of the - Vatican Library,—a post which has derived new brilliancy from - the brilliant qualities of its latest occupant: nor can I - overcome my apprehension lest the honour which I may gain by my - first few hours of office may decline, when it comes to be seen - how great is the difference between this distinguished man and - his successor. This fear, I confess, is a drawback upon my joy - at this happy event; but at the same time, I trust it will also - stimulate me to make every effort that the lustre of a position - in itself so honourable, may not be tarnished in my person. I - have only to wish that your congratulation, coming as it does - from a kindly feeling, may be an earnest of the successful - exercise of the diligence I am determined to use in my new - career, which is all the more grateful and honourable to me, as - it furnishes more frequent occasions of corresponding with you.” - -There is another of his letters of the same period, which to many perhaps -will appear trivial, but which points in a still more amiable light, not -alone his unaffected piety and humility, but the homely simplicity of his -disposition, and the affection with which he cherished all the domestic -relations. It is addressed to his cousin, Antonia, who has already been -mentioned in a former part of this Memoir, but who, for some years before -Mezzofanti’s leaving Bologna, had been afflicted with blindness. On the -occasion of his appointment, this lady employed the pen of a common -friend, Signora Galli, of Bologna, to convey her congratulations to -Mezzofanti. It would seem, moreover, that she had intended on the same -occasion to make him a present, which Mezzofanti, out of consideration -for her limited means, had thought it expedient to decline. - - “_Bologna, December 14, 1833._ - - My most esteemed cousin, - - Accept, in return for all your kind congratulations and good - wishes, my most sincere prayer that God may bestow upon you - all the choicest blessings of the approaching festival. There - is _one_ present which it is in your power to make me, and one - which is especially suitable to a person so entirely devoted - to God as you are: it is to offer up the holy communion for me - on one of the coming festivals. I, upon my part, will offer - the Holy Sacrifice for you on the feast of St. John; and - on the same day I will make a special memento of your good - parish priest, the abate Landrino, who once, upon the same - day, showed me a kindness which I shall never forget. Pray - remember me to him, and also to dear Signora Galli, in whom, as - your secretary, you have found an admirable exponent of your - affectionate sentiments, for which I am deeply grateful to - you both. My nephews unite in best wishes for your health and - happiness. Make the best report from me at home, and believe me - always, your most affectionate cousin, - - JOSEPH MEZZOFANTI.” - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -[1834.] - - -It may perhaps be convenient to interrupt the narrative at this point, -for the purpose of bringing together a number of miscellaneous reports -regarding certain languages of minor note ascribed to Mezzofanti, which, -through the kindness of many friends, have come into my hands. I shall -select those languages especially, respecting his acquaintance with -which some controversy has arisen. As my principal object in collecting -these reports has simply been to obtain a body of trustworthy materials, -whereupon to found an estimate of the real extent of the great linguist’s -attainments, I shall not consider it necessary here to follow any exact -philological arrangement; but shall present the notices of the several -languages, as nearly as possible in the order of the years to which they -belong, reserving for a later time the general summary of the results. - -I shall commence with a language to which some allusions have been made -already—the Welsh. - -Mr. Watts, in his admirable paper so often cited, has recorded it, as the -opinion of Mr. Thomas Ellis of the British Museum—“a Welsh gentleman, -who saw Mezzofanti more than once in his later years—that he was -unable to keep up, or even understand, a conversation in the language -of the Cymry.”[448] It is difficult to reconcile this statement with -the positive assertion of Mr. Harford, which we have seen in a former -page;—that, even as early as 1817, he himself “heard Mezzofanti speak -Welsh.” It might perhaps be suggested, as a solution of the difficulty, -that in the long interval between Mr. Harford’s visit, and that of Mr. -Ellis, Mezzofanti’s memory, tenacious as it was, had failed in this one -particular; but, about the period to which we have now arrived, there are -other witnesses who are quite as explicit as Mr. Harford. - -Early in the year 1834, Dr. Forster, an English gentleman who has resided -much abroad, and who (although, from the circumstance of his books being -privately printed, little known to the English public) is the author of -several curious and interesting works, visited Mezzofanti in the Vatican -Library. - - “To-day,” (May 14, 1834) he writes in a work entitled _Annales - d’un Physicien Voyageur_, “I visited Signor Mezzofanti, - celebrated for his knowledge of more than forty ancient and - modern languages. He is secretary of the Vatican—a small man - with an air of great intelligence, and with the organs of - language highly developed in his face. We talked a great deal - about philology, and he told me many interesting anecdotes of - his manner of learning different languages. As I was myself - acquainted with ten languages, I wished to test the ability of - this eminent linguist; and therefore proposed that we should - leave Italian for the moment, and amuse ourselves by speaking - different other languages. Having spoken in French, English, - Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Dutch, I said at last:— - - ‘My friend, I have almost run out my stock of modern languages, - except some which you probably do not know.’ - - ‘Well,’ said he, ‘the dead languages, Latin and Greek, are - matters which every one learns, and which every educated man is - familiar with. We shall not mind them. But pray tell me what - others you speak.’ - - ‘I speak a little Welsh,’ I replied. - - ‘Good,’ said he, ‘I also know Welsh.’ And he began to talk - to me at once, like a Welsh peasant. He knew also the other - varieties of Celtic, Gælic, Irish, and Bas-Breton.”[449] - -Some time after the visit of Mr. Harford, too, but before Mezzofanti -had left Bologna, when Dr. Baines, then Vicar Apostolic of the Western -District of England, (in which Wales was included,) was passing through -that city, the abate, concluding (erroneously, as Dr. Baines had the -mortification to confess,) that the bishop of Wales must necessarily be -an authority upon its language, came to him with a Welsh Bible, to ask -his assistance on some points connected with the pronunciation, being -already acquainted with the language itself.[450] - -Another of his visitors, while at Bologna, has put on record a testimony -to the same effect, which, although it does not expressly allude -to Mezzofanti’s speaking the language, yet evidently supposes his -acquaintance with it, and which moreover is interesting for its own sake. -I allude to Dr. W. F. Edwards, of Paris, author of an able and curious -essay addressed to the historian, Amedée Thierry, “On the Physiological -Characters of the Races of Man, in their Relation to History.” In this -essay, while combating the popular notion, that in England the ancient -British race has been completely displaced by the various northern -conquerors who have overrun the country, Dr. Edwards alleges in support -of his own work, which he heard expressed by Mezzofanti, and which, -although founded on purely philological principles,[451] he regards as a -singular confirmation of his own physiological deductions. - - “I owe,” he says, “to the celebrated Mezzofanti, whom I had - the pleasure of meeting at Bologna, an example of what I have - been urging; and I am glad to repeat it here for more reasons - than one. You will see in it a further confirmation of the - conclusion regarding the Britons of England, which I have - deduced from sources of a very different kind. If there is - any characteristic which distinguishes English from the other - modern languages of Europe, it is the extreme irregularity - of its pronunciation. In other languages, when you have once - mastered the fundamental sounds, you are enabled, by the aid of - certain general rules, to pronounce the words with a tolerable - approach to accuracy, even without understanding the meaning. - In English you can never pronounce until you have actually - learned the language. Mezzofanti, in speaking to me of Welsh, - traced to that language the origin of this peculiarity of the - English. I had no necessity to ask him through what channel. I - knew, as well as he, that the English could not have borrowed - from the Welsh; and that, before the Saxon invasion, the - Britons had spoken the same language which afterwards became - peculiar to Wales. Thus of his own accord and without my - seeking for it, he gave me a new proof, entirely independent of - the reasons which had already led me to the conviction that, - despite the Saxon conquest, the Britons had never ceased to - exist in England. They had for centuries been deemed extinct; - and yet he recognises their descendants, so to speak, by the - sound of their voice, as I have recognised them by their - features! What more is needed to establish the identity?” - -In the marked conflict between these testimonies and the strong adverse -opinion expressed by Mr. Ellis, “that the Cardinal was unable to keep -up or even understand a conversation in the language of the Cymry,” nay -that “he could not even read an ordinary book with facility,” I have -had inquiries made through several Welsh friends, the result of which, -coupled with the authorities already cited, satisfies me that Mr. Ellis -was certainly mistaken in his judgment. The belief that Mezzofanti -knew and spoke Welsh appears to be universal. Mr. Rhys Powel, a Welsh -gentleman who was personally acquainted with him, often heard that he -understood Welsh, and I have received a similar assurance from a Welsh -clergyman of my acquaintance. Mr. Rhys Powel, mentions the name of the -late Mr. Williams of Aberpergwin, as having “actually conversed with -the Cardinal in Welsh,” during a visit to Rome some time before his -eminence’s death; and a short composition of his in that language, which -I submitted to two eminent Welsh scholars, is pronounced by them not only -correct, but idiomatic in its structure and phraseology. - -With such a number of witnesses, entirely independent of each other, -and spread over so long a period, attesting Mezzofanti’s knowledge of -Welsh, I can hardly hesitate to conclude that Mr. Ellis’s impression to -the contrary must have arisen from some accidental misunderstanding, -or perhaps from one of those casual failures from which even the most -perfect are not altogether exempt. The concluding paragraph of Dr. -Edward’s notice is interesting, although upon a different ground. - - “It is to be regretted,” he adds, “that a man who surpasses all - others by his prodigious knowledge of languages, should content - himself with what is but an evidence of his own learning, and - should conceal from the world the science upon which that - learning is founded. It is not to his prodigious memory and - the, so to say, inborn aptitude of his mind for retaining words - and their combinations, that he owes the facility with which he - masters all languages, but to his eminently analytical mind, - which rapidly penetrates their genius and makes it its own. I - collect from himself that he studies languages, rather through - their spirit than through their letter. What do we know of the - spirit of languages? Almost nothing. But if Mezzofanti would - communicate to the world the fruit of his observations, we - should see a new science arise amongst us.”[452] - -It will be recollected that Flemish was one of the minor languages -which he acquired during his residence at Bologna. From the time of -his settling at Rome, his opportunities of practice in this and the -kindred dialect of Holland, were almost of daily occurrence. One of the -earliest appears to have been afforded by his intercourse with a young -student of the Germanic College, the abbé Malou, since one of the most -distinguished of the Catholic literatî of Belgium,[453] for several years -Professor of Scripture in the University of Louvain, and now Bishop of -Bruges. Monseigneur Malou has been good enough to note down for me his -recollections of his intercourse with Mezzofanti, in so far as they -relate to his native language. - - “During my stay in Rome (1831-35), I conversed several times - in Flemish with Cardinal Mezzofanti, and I was thus enabled - to ascertain that he understood our language thoroughly. He - spoke to me of the works of Cats and Vondel, two distinguished - Flemish poets, which he had read. Nevertheless, I fancied that - I perceived his vocabulary to be rather limited. He often - repeated the same words and phrases. He spoke with a Brabant - accent, for he had learned Flemish from some young men of - Brussels, who studied at the University of Bologna, in which - his Eminence was at that time Librarian. Monsignor Mezzofanti, - after I had spoken, remarked of himself, that I, being a - Fleming, did not speak as they do in Brabant; and hence he - had a difficulty in catching some of my expressions, which he - requested me to repeat. It is, therefore, not quite correct to - say, that he knew our different dialects; but, if he had had - occasion to learn them, he could, without doubt, have done so - with great ease. - - Some days before my departure from Rome, in May, 1835, I met - this learned dignitary in the sacristy of S. Peter’s. He at - once accosted me in Flemish; and, when I had replied, he - upbraided me with having forgotten my mother tongue, for I - mixed up with it, he said, some German words. The reproach - was well founded: for I had passed about three years in the - German College, where I had learned a little German, and had - had meanwhile no occasion to speak Flemish. Such a reproof from - an Italian, who thus gave lessons in Flemish to a Fleming, - struck me as exceeding droll, and amused me not a little. This - anecdote shows what minute attention the learned Cardinal paid - to the boundary lines of kindred tongues. - - I have heard Mezzofanti, in the course of one evening, speaking - Italian, English, German, Flemish, Russian, French, and the - Sicilian and Neapolitan dialects of Italian.”[454] - -This poverty of his Flemish vocabulary, however, disappeared with -practice. Another learned Belgian ecclesiastic, Monsignor Aerts, who -subsequently to the sojourn of M. Malou in Rome, resided there for -many years, as Rector of the Belgian College, reports as follows of -Mezzofanti’s Flemish, such as he found it in 1837 and the following year. - - “I was intimately acquainted with Cardinal Mezzofanti, during - my sojourn in Rome; that is to say, from 1837 to the moment of - his death. I saw him frequently. After the establishment in - Rome of the Belgian Ecclesiastical College, of which I was the - first President, and he the Patron, I had still more frequent - relations with his eminence. I spoke to him several times in - each month. Part of our conversation always took place in - Flemish. I can assure you that he never had to look for a word, - and that he spoke our language most freely, and with a purity - of expression and pronunciation not always to be met with among - our own countrymen. One day that I was admitted along with the - Cardinal, to an audience of the Pope Gregory XVI., during his - hour of recreation, His Holiness expressed a desire to hear - him speaking Flemish with me. We then began a little discussion - about the relative difficulty of German and Flemish. His - Eminence thought Flemish the harder of the two. The Pope called - him ‘a living Pentecost.’ He also wrote Flemish poetry: and - one day he gave me several verses of his own composition, to - send in token of remembrance to a young gentleman from Bruges - whom he had confirmed at Rome. Mezzofanti not only knew the - language itself thoroughly, but he was moreover acquainted with - its history and with the principal Flemish and Dutch authors. - I heard him speak of the works of Vondel, Cats, David, &c. He - spoke and pronounced Dutch equally well. He said, however, - that, the modern Hollanders had changed the language by - approximating to the German. He knew, also, some of the local - dialects of Flemish, especially that of Brussels. He could - even distinguish the inhabitants of Brussels by their accent, - of which I have more than once been witness. When he saw a - Fleming, he always saluted him in his own tongue; as he indeed - did with all foreigners. - - In 1838, Cardinal Sterckx, Archbishop of Malines, paid a - visit to Rome, and I had the honour of being present during - several conversations which he held in Flemish with Cardinal - Mezzofanti. The latter once took a fancy to have a little - Flemish conversation with his colleague, in a consistory which - the Pope held at this time: and he himself playfully remarked - that probably that was the first time, since the origin of - the Church, that two cardinals had talked Flemish in a papal - consistory. Cardinal Sterckx told me this anecdote the same - day.” - -The complete success with which he overcame the deficiency that M. Malou -had observed in 1831, and the curious mastery of the various dialects -which his singularly exquisite perception of the minutest peculiarities -of language enabled him to acquire, are attested by another witness of -the same period, Father Van Calven of the same city. - - “On the 6th February, 1841,” he writes, “the Cardinal, who was - no less kind and affable than learned, administered the first - communion to my cousin, Leo van Oockerout, who was then with - his friends in Rome. Being a Belgian, a friend, and a relative, - I was invited to be present at the ceremony, which took place - in the Church of S. Peter, over the tomb of SS. Peter and - Paul. Cardinal Mezzofanti celebrated the Holy Sacrifice; and - after the Gospel, or perhaps immediately before the child’s - communion, he made a little discourse in French, in reference - to the beautiful occasion which had drawn us together. This - little discourse, which was very simple, was in excellent - French. After the ceremony was over, he called us all into - the sacristy, and there we had a conversation in Flemish. His - eminence distinguished the different dialects of our Belgian - provinces perfectly. Thus I remember distinctly that he said to - us: ‘I learned Flemish from a native of Brabant, and this is - the way I pronounce the word; but, you from Flanders, pronounce - it thus.’—I forget what was the word about which there was - question; but at any rate, the Cardinal was quite correct in - his observation.” - -The same curiously delicate power of “discriminating the various dialects -of the language, and of distinguishing by their accents, the inhabitants -of the various provinces of Belgium,” are attested by another member -of the same society, Father Legrelle. On the eve of this gentleman’s -return to Belgium, he asked the Cardinal to be so good as to write his -name in his _Album de Voyage_. On the very instant, and in F. Legrelle’s -presence, his Eminence penned these Flemish verses, which he gave to M. -Legrelle as a souvenir:— - - God wept, en wyst den weg tot de volkomenheid; - Hoort zyne stem, myn Vriend, de stemme der waerheid.[455] - -One of M. Legrelle’s companions, M. Leon Wilde, a native of Holland, and -now a member of the Jesuit Society at Katwick, bears the same testimony -to the facility and elegance with which the Cardinal spoke Dutch. M. -Wilde also mentions his having written some verses in that language. -But a “Tour to Rome”[456] by a Dutch professor, Dr. Wap, published at -Breda, in 1839, contains so full and so interesting a notice of the great -linguist, in reference to this department of his accomplishment, that, -without referring further to M. Wilde’s letter, I shall content myself -with translating the most important passages of Dr. Wap’s account of his -visit. The author, then a professor in the military college of Breda, is -now resident at Utrecht. - - “Joseph Mezzofanti,” he writes, “is at present[457] in his - sixty-fifth year. He is of a slight figure, pale complexion, - black hair which is beginning to turn gray, a piercing eye, - quick utterance, and an air full of good humour, but not very - intellectual, so that one would hardly expect to discover - faculties so extraordinary under such an exterior. The first - time I saw him was in the Vatican library, in the large hall - which is furnished with tables, for the accommodation of those - who wish to read or to take notes. He was busy distributing - books, and at the same time was talking to an English lady - accompanied by some English gentlemen. I afterwards spent an - hour or two with this family, and learned that Mezzofanti had - written in the lady’s album four very graceful English lines, - regarding America, whence she had come, and Vienna, where - she was going to reside. As soon as the librarian noticed - any foreigner, he at once began a conversation with him, and - carried it on, no matter what might be the stranger’s idiom. - Prince Michael of Russia was amazed at the ease and volubility - with which Mezzofanti spoke the Polish language. He accosted - me in English, which has in some measure become indigenous to - Rome: but, finding I was from Holland, he at once continued - the conversation in the _Brussels_ dialect (as he called it,) - and told me how scanty the means were of which he had been - able to avail himself in the study of Flemish. These were: a - Flemish grammar; two authors, (Bolhuis and Ten Kate,) with - whom he was acquainted; and finally, Vondel and Cats, whom - he had carefully read. He had never seen any of Bilderdyk’s - works, and he inquired whether this scholar had not introduced - a dialect into the Dutch language. When I had given him the - necessary information, and told him that Bilderdyk, besides - a hundred other works, had written a book on the characters - of the Alphabet, another on the Gender of Substantives, and - three volumes on their roots, his delight was extreme, and he - expressed a great desire to possess these works. I undertook - to send them to him, and I took care to redeem my promise, - as soon as I returned home.[458] After this interview, I did - not presume to manifest my earnest desire for any further - interviews with him: but Mezzofanti anticipated my wishes, and - invited me to come and see him at the Propaganda, as often as - I liked. There it is that he spends some hours, every evening, - among the students, talking with each in his own tongue. I took - advantage of his kind proposal, and had thus an opportunity of - getting a nearer view of this college of the Propaganda.... - - Nowhere will one find so many resources for amassing treasures - of knowledge united together, as in the vast college of the - Propaganda.... - - Here are assembled a hundred and fourteen students from - forty-one different countries. At my request, the Rector caused - the Pater Noster to be written by sixteen foreign students in - their respective languages. Here, in the evening, in the midst - of these various nations, I met Mezzofanti, who seemed to - belong to each of them. He spoke Chinese with Leang of Canton, - as easily as he spoke Dutch with Mr. Steenhof[459] of Utrecht. - I will never forget the instructive hours which I spent there. - The natural frankness of Mezzofanti, his free and communicative - conversation, his easy tone, his gay disposition, all rendered - my farewell visit, which I twice repeated, very painful to me. - - Amidst so many grave employments, Mezzofanti goes twice each - week to the house of the orphans, to teach them the catechism, - and to the barracks of the Swiss soldiers to instruct them in - the principles of religion. The library requires his care twice - in the week, for several hours in the morning; in the afternoon - he gives lessons to the pupils of the Propaganda, whose studies - he superintends; to his care are confided the public discourses - delivered on the Epiphany: almost all foreigners come to visit - him; in fine, he pays his visits in his humble equipage, and - attends at the Pope’s court when pressing affairs requires his - presence; and, notwithstanding many duties and occupations, he - still finds time to assist at the divine offices. Who will not - feel profound respect and sincere admiration for such a man? - - I will here subjoin some lines which I wrote _extempore_ in - Mezzofanti’s album, together with his immediate reply. - - ‘Wie ooit de Pinkstergaaf in twijfel durfde trekken. - Sta hier beschaamd, verplet voor Mezzofanti’s geest, - Hij eere in hem den man, die de aard ten tolk kan strekken. - Wiens brien in ’t taalgeheim van alle volken leest. - Aanvaard, ô Telg van’t Zuid, den eerbiedgroet van’t Noorden, - Maar denk, terwijl nu oog mijn nietig schrift beziet, - Al mist der Batten spraak Italjes zang akkoorden, - Hun tongval of hun ziel leent zich tot vleijen niet.’ - - My veritable impromptu instantly called forth this beautiful - answer from Mezzofanti:— - - ‘Mynheer! als uw fraaj schrift kwam heden voor mijne oogen, - Door Uw’ goedaardigheid was ikheel opgetogen, - En zooveel in mijn geest zooveel in’t hart opklom, - Dat mijne tong verbleef med vijftig taalen stom. - Nu, opdat ik niet schijn U een ondankbaar wezen, - Bid ik U in mijn hart alleen te willen lezen.[460] - - Joseph Mezzofanti. - - _Rome, den 17 April, 1837._’ - - After writing these lines, he asked me if there were any - mistakes in them, and, if so, if I would be good enough to - point them out to him. I then noticed the word _fraaj_ in the - first line, knowing he would reply that the letter _i_ at - the end of a word should be replaced by a _j_. The _aa_ in - _taalen_, in the fourth line, he justified by a reference to - the Flemish grammar which he used at the time. As for the _d_ - in the preposition _med_, which occurs in the same line, he - contended that this was the proper orthography of the word, as - it was an abbreviation of _mede_. I would have been greatly - surprised at all this, if I had not previously had occasion - to admire the delicate ear which this giant of linguistic - learning possessed for the subtleties of pronunciation, and the - wonderful perspicacity of his orthographical system: especially - as he had expressed to me his just disapprobation of the - foreign words which some of our countrymen are letting slip - into their conversation. He had already given proof to another - traveller from Holland that he was perfectly acquainted with - the difference between the words _nimmer_ and _nooit_, so that - he hardly ever used one for the other.” - -Side by side with the Dutch traveller’s sketch, may be placed a still -more lively account of Mezzofanti by another visitor of the Vatican, -the poet Frankl, a Bohemian by birth, but chiefly known by his German -writings. This sketch, besides the allusion to Mezzofanti’s skill -in the poet’s native language, Bohemian, contains a slight, but not -uninteresting specimen of Mezzofanti’s German vocabulary, and, moreover, -illustrates very curiously the attention which he seems always to have -given to the general principles of harmony, and his acquaintance with -the metrical capabilities of more than one ancient and modern language. -The Signor Luzatto, to whose introductory letter Frankl refers, was a -friend of Mezzofanti—a distinguished Italian Jew—himself an accomplished -linguist, and well known to oriental scholars by his contributions to the -_Archives Israelites_, and by a work on the Babylonian Inscriptions. - - “Having furnished myself,” writes Herr Frankl, “with a letter - of introduction from Luzatto of Padua, I went to the Vatican - Library, of which Mezzofanti was the head. His arrival was - looked for every moment; and I occupied the interval by - examining the long, well lighted gallery of antiquities which - is outside, and which also leads into the halls that contain - the masterpieces of ancient art in marble. I was in the act of - reading the inscription upon one of the many marble slabs which - are inserted in the wall, when a stranger who, except myself, - was the sole occupant of the gallery, said to me; ‘Here comes - Monsignor Mezzofanti!’ - - An undersized man, somewhat disposed towards corpulency, in a - violet cassock falling to the ancle, and a white surplice which - reached to the knee, came briskly, almost hurriedly, towards - us. He carried his four-cornered violet cap in his hand, and - thus I was better able to note his lively, though not striking - features, and his grey hair still mingled with black. About his - lips played a smile, which I afterwards observed to be their - habitual expression. He appeared to be not far from sixty. When - he came sufficiently near, I advanced to meet him with a silent - bow, and he at once received me with the greeting in German, - ‘_Seyn Sie mir willkommen!_’ (‘You are welcome.’) - - ‘I am surprised, Monsignor,’ I replied, ‘that you address me - in German, although I have not spoken a word as yet.’ ‘Oh,’ - said he, ‘a great many foreigners of all countries come to - visit me, and I have acquired a certain routine—pardon me, I - should have said a certain ‘knack,’ (die Routine—verzeihen - sie, ‘die gewandtheit’ sollte ich sagen,—) of discovering - their nationality from their physiognomy, or rather from their - features.’ - - ‘I am sorry, Monsignor,’ I replied, ‘that it is my ill fortune - to belie this knack of yours. I am a native of Bohemia, - although not of Bohemian race, and Bohemian is my mother - tongue.’ - - ‘To what nationality, then, do you belong?’ asked Mezzofanti in - Bohemian, without a moment’s hesitation.” - -He afterwards changed the language to Hebrew. - -Frankl adds, that on a second visit to the reading room of the Vatican, -he found the gay animated Monsignor in the ordinary black dress of a -priest; and took this opportunity to present him a copy of his “Colombo,” -in which he had written the inscription, “_Dem Sprachen-chamæleon -Mezzofanti._” (“To Mezzofanti, the Chameleon of language”.) - - “‘Ha,’ said Mezzofanti, with a smile, ‘I have had numberless - compliments paid me; but this is a spick and span new one,’ - (funkelnagel-neu.) - - Upon this word he laid a special emphasis, as if to call my - attention to his well known familiarity with unusual words. - - ‘I see,’ he continued, ‘you have adopted the Italian form of - cantos and stanzas.’ - - ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘the Germans nowadays, for the most part, do - homage to the Italian forms.’ - - ‘At last!’ said he, with a smile not unmixed with triumph. - - ‘Schlegel, Bürger, and Platen,’ I said, ‘have written sonnets - quite as harmonious as Petrarch’s, and Tasso’s stanza has found - its rival among the Germans.’ - - ‘Well, at all events,’ replied Mezzofanti, ‘the Germans have - not succeeded in hexameters. Klopstock’s are incorrect and - inharmonious. What harmony is there in the line:— - - ‘Sing, unsterbliche Seele, des sündigen Menschen Erlösung!’ - Where is the cæsura—speaking to you, I should say, - _abschnitt_—in this line? Voss, it is true, wrote correctly; - and yet an Italian will hang down his chin whenever Voss’s - hexameters are read. As for Goethe, what sort of poetry is his? - You know his elegies—for example, the hexameter which ends - - ——‘blaustrumpf und violet strumpf!’[461] - - Surely he must have taken the Germans for a hard-hearted - nation!’ - - I quoted for him the burlesque couplet which was composed in - ridicule of Schiller’s and Goethe’s distichs. - - ‘In Weimar und Jenam acht man Hexameter wie den, - Und die Pentameter sind noch erbärmlicher.’ - - He repeated it at once after me, and seemed to wish to impress - it on his mind. - - ‘Do you know,’ he pursued, ‘what language I place before all - others, next to Greek and Italian, for constructive capability - and rhythmical harmoniousness?—The Hungarian. I know some - pieces of the later poets of Hungary, the melody of which - took me completely by surprise. Mark its future history, and - you will see in it a sudden outburst of poetic genius, which - will fully confirm my prediction. The Hungarians themselves - do not seem to be aware what a treasure they have in their - language.’[462] - - ‘It would be in the highest degree interesting,’ said I, - ‘if you would draw up a comparative sketch of the metrical - capabilities of all the various languages that you speak. Who - is there that could speak on the subject with more authority?’ - - He received my suggestion with a smile, but made no reply. - He seems, indeed, to content himself with the glory of being - handed down to posterity as the Crœsus of languages, without - leaving to them the slightest permanent fruit of his immense - treasures of science.”[463] - -Among these less commonly cultivated languages, I may also class Maltese. -In this Mezzofanti was equally at home. As Maltese can scarcely be said -to possess anything like a literature,[464] it may be presumed that he -acquired it chiefly by oral instruction, partly from occasional visitors -to Rome, partly from some Maltese servants who were in the Propaganda -at the time of his arrival. This much at least is certain, that, in the -year 1840, he spoke the language freely and familiarly. Father Andrew -Schembri, of La Valetta, during a residence in Rome in that year, having -conducted the preparatory spiritual exercises for a number of youths to -whom the Cardinal administered the first communion in the church of -San Vito, met his Eminence at breakfast in the convent attached to this -church. No sooner was Father Schembri presented to him as a Maltese, than -he entered into conversation with him in his own language.[465] Another -Maltese ecclesiastic, Canon Falzou of the cathedral, met the Cardinal in -Rome at a later date, in 1845-6. In the course of his sojourn he “had -frequent opportunities, for a period of eleven months, of conversing with -him in Maltese, which he spoke very well.”[466] - -I need scarcely observe that, although in the capital and the principal -towns of Malta, the prevailing language is Italian, the dialect spoken -by the rural population contains a large admixture of foreign elements, -chiefly Arabic and Greek. To what a degree the former language enters -into the composition of Maltese, may be inferred from the well-known -literary imposture of Vella, who attempted to pass off a forgery of his -own as an Arabic history of Sicily under the Arabs.[467] - -Before closing this chapter, I shall add a short note of the Count de -Lavradio, Portuguese ambassador in London, and brother of the Marquis de -Lavradio, who for many years held the same office in Rome. It regards -Mezzofanti’s acquaintance with Portuguese, another language which very -few foreigners take the trouble to acquire. - - “I have always heard,” writes his excellency, “both from my - brother and from other learned Portuguese who knew Cardinal - Mezzofanti, that he was perfectly conversant with the - Portuguese language, and that he spoke it with facility and - with elegance. I myself have read letters written by him in - excellent Portuguese; particularly one very remarkable one, - addressed by him to the learned M. de Souza, for the purpose of - conveying his thanks for the offer which M. de Souza had made - to him, of a copy of the magnificent edition of Camoens, which - he had published in 1817.” - -The Marquis de Lavradio here referred to, while ambassador at Rome, -expressed the same opinion to Cardinal Wiseman. The Marquis, in -Mezzofanti’s Portuguese, was particularly struck by the precision of -his language and the completeness of his mastery over even the delicate -forms of conversational phraseology. He instanced in particular one of -his letters. It was perfect, he said, not only in vocabulary but in form, -even down to the minutest phrases of conventional compliment and formal -courtesy. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -[1834-1836.] - - -I resume the narrative. - -The Librarian of the Vatican, or as he is more properly called the -“Librarian of the Roman Church,” (_Bibliotecario della Chiesa Romana_,) -is always a Cardinal, commonly the Cardinal Secretary of State. His -duties as such, however, are in great measure nominal; and the details -of the management practically rest with the _Primo Custode_, or chief -keeper of the Library, who is assisted by a second keeper, and seven -_scrittori_, or secretaries, among whom are distributed the seven -departments,—Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Italian, and modern -foreign languages—into which the books are classified. - -The Cardinal Librarian at the time of Mezzofanti’s appointment was -Cardinal Della Somaglia, who had been Secretary of State under the Popes -Leo XII. and Pius VIII.; and who, although, owing to his great age, he -had retired from the more active office of Secretary, still retained that -of Librarian of the Vatican. Mezzofanti’s colleague as _Secondo Custode_, -was Monsignor Andrea Molza, an orientalist of high reputation, and -Professor of Hebrew in the Roman University. - -Attached to the Basilica of St. Peter’s, and subject to the chapter of -that church, is a college for the education of ecclesiastics, (popularly -called _Pietrini_,) whose striking and picturesque costume seldom fails -to attract the notice of strangers. The Rector of this college is always -a member of the chapter, and is elected by the canons themselves from -among their number. Immediately upon his nomination by the Pope as member -of the chapter, Mezzofanti was appointed by his brother canons to the -office of Rector of this college, which he continued to hold till his -elevation to the Cardinalate. The office is in great part honorary; -and Mezzofanti, in addition to his gratuitous services, devoted a -considerable part of his income from other sources to the improvement -of the establishment, and especially to the support of many meritorious -students, whose limited means would have excluded them from its -advantages but for his disinterested generosity. - -He was also named Consulter of the Sacred Congregation for the correction -of oriental books, and a censor of the academy. - -It need hardly be said that, from the moment of his arrival in Rome, -he had been received with warm and ready welcome in every scientific -and literary circle. With Monsignor Mai, both during his residence at -the Vatican and after his removal to the Propaganda, he was on terms of -most friendly intercourse, and the confidant of many of his literary -undertakings. The most distinguished professors of the several schools -of Rome, Graziosi, Fornari, Modena, De Vico, Perrone, Palma, Manera, De -Luca, vied with each other in doing him honour. He was elected into all -the leading literary societies and academies of the city; and soon after -his appointment as Vatican Librarian, he read in the “Academy of the -Catholic Religion,” a paper which attracted much notice at the time: “On -the Services of the Church in promoting the Diffusion of True Knowledge, -and the Development of the Human Mind.” - -The Pope, Gregory XVI., himself, a great lover of oriental studies, -received him into his most cordial intimacy. In the one brief hour of -recreation which this great and zealous pontiff, who retained even in the -Vatican the spirit and the observances of the cloister, allowed himself -after dinner, Mezzofanti was his frequent companion. The privilege of -entrée was open to him at all times; but it was specially understood that -at this more private and informal hour, when the Pope loved to see his -most cherished friends around him, Mezzofanti should present himself at -least once every week. - -In like manner his early friend, Giustiniani, also an accomplished -oriental scholar, lost no time, on Mezzofanti’s coming to Rome, in -resuming with him the intimate friendship which they had contracted -during his Eminence’s residence at Bologna, as Cardinal Legate. -Mezzofanti used to spend every Wednesday evening with Cardinal -Giustiniani; and on one occasion, when Dr. Wiseman called at the -Cardinal’s, he found them reading Arabic together. He met with equal -kindness from the Cardinal Secretary, Bernetti, and from Cardinal -Albani, who had both known him at Bologna. The venerable old Cardinal -Pacca, too, took especial delight in his company. He was a constant -guest at the literary assemblies in the palace of Cardinal Zurla, -known to general readers as the historian of Marco Polo and the early -Venetian travellers.[468] On Pentecost Sunday, 1834, the anniversary -of the Feast of Tongues, the Cardinal gave a dinner in honour of the -great Polyglot, at which many foreigners (one of whom was the present -Cardinal Wiseman) speaking a great variety of languages, and all the most -distinguished linguists of Rome, were present. Each of the guests carried -away a feeling of wonder, almost as though his own language had been -the only subject of Mezzofanti’s extraordinary display. Signor Drach, -the learned Jew, named in a former page,[469] declared that he had not -thought it possible for any but a born Hebrew to speak both Scriptural -and Rabbinical Hebrew with the fluency and correctness which Mezzofanti -was able to command. A Polish priest named Ozarowski,[470] who sat next -to Mezzofanti, assured the late Dr. Cox, of Southampton, that, had he -not known Mezzofanti personally, he would, from his conversation, have -believed him to be a highly educated Pole; and he added that, “foreigner -as this great linguist was, his familiarity with Polish literature -and history completely threw his own into the shade.” Nor was this -extraordinary faculty confined to the literature and language alone. A -Polish lady was so astonished, not only at his knowledge of the language, -but at his “acquaintance with the country, and even with individuals, -(for many of whom he inquired by name, describing where they lived, what -was their occupation, &c.,”) that, as she assured Cardinal Wiseman, she -“could not believe that he had not resided, or at least travelled, in -Poland.” - - * * * * * - -The exact number of languages to which this extraordinary facility -extended, had long been a matter of speculation. Mezzofanti -himself—averse to everything that bore the appearance of display—although -repeatedly questioned on the subject, generally evaded the inquiry, or -passed it off with a jesting answer. It is probable too, that he was -deterred from any enumeration by the difficulty of distinguishing between -languages properly so-called, and dialects. The first distinct statement -of his own, bearing directly upon the point, which I have been able to -trace on good authority to himself, was made soon after his appointment -as Vatican Librarian, in an interview with a gentleman of Italian family, -long resident in England, who was introduced to him by Dr. Cox, at that -time vice-rector of the English College. The particulars of the interview -were communicated to me by Dr. Cox himself, in a letter which I received -from him a very short time before his death. The gentleman referred -to was Count Mazzinghi, the well known composer, who, if not born in -England, had resided in London for so long a time, that in language, -habits, and associations, he was a thorough Englishman. - - “On one occasion,” says Dr. Cox, “when going to the Vatican - Library to visit Mezzofanti, I took with me an English family, - who were most desirous of being introduced to him. Mezzofanti - remonstrated good-humouredly with me for bringing people to see - him, as if he were worthy of being visited, but he received our - party with his habitual politeness. - - The gentleman whom I introduced, begged as a favour that he - would tell him how many languages he could speak. ‘I have - heard many different accounts,’ he said, ‘but will you tell me - yourself?’ - - After some hesitation, Mezzofanti answered, ‘Well! if you must - know, I speak forty-five languages.’ - - ‘Forty-five!’ replied my friend. ‘How, sir, have you possibly - contrived to acquire so many?’ - - ‘I cannot explain it,’ said Mezzofanti. ‘Of course God has - given me this peculiar power: but if you wish to know how I - preserve these languages, I can only say, that, when once I - hear the meaning of a word in any language, I never forget it.’ - - He then begged us to excuse him, and called one of the - librarians to show us the principal curiosities of the library. - On our return, we found him seated with a young German artist, - who, he told us, was going to Constantinople. ‘I am teaching - him Turkish before he goes,’ he continued, ‘and as he speaks - modern Greek very well, I use that language as the means of my - instruction. I had the honour,’ he subjoined, ‘of giving some - lessons on modern Greek to your poet, Lord Byron, when he was - in Bologna.’ - - “I should add,” said Dr. Cox “that I frequently heard him - speak of Byron, and that his criticisms upon his works, and - his reflections on the peculiar characteristics of his poetry, - would have been worthy of a place in a Review.” - -While he thus professed, however, to speak forty-five languages, he took -care, as in his similar conversation with Dr. Tholuck, to convey that his -knowledge of some of them was much less perfect than of others. - -Nor did it remain stationary at this limit. Its progress, even while -he resided at Bologna, had been steady, and tolerably uniform. But the -increased facilities for the study which he enjoyed in Rome, enabled him -to add more rapidly to his store. Cardinal Wiseman assures me, that, -before he left Rome, Mezzofanti’s reply to the inquiry as to the number -of his languages, was that which has since become a sort of proverb, -“Fifty, and Bolognese.” Even as early as 1837, Mezzofanti himself, in his -extempore reply to Dr. Wap’s Dutch verses, as we have seen, used words to -the same effect:— - - Mijne tong verbleef med _vijftig taalen_ stom, - -I have been anxious to obtain, on this interesting point, an authentic -report from persons who enjoyed almost daily opportunities of intercourse -with Mezzofanti at this period, for the purpose of testing more -satisfactorily, the accuracy of a contemporary sketch of him, which -appeared in a work of considerable pretensions, published in Germany, -in 1837—Fleck’s “Scientific Tour,”—which describes him, from popular -report, as speaking “some thirty languages and dialects, but of course, -not all with equal readiness.” As M. Fleck is in many things, an echo -of the supercilious criticisms of those who, while they admitted in -general terms the marvellous character of Mezzofanti’s talent, contrived, -nevertheless, to depreciate it in detail, it may be well to afford the -reader an opportunity of judging it for himself.[471] - - “Of middle size and somewhat stooping in his gait,” writes M. - Fleck, “Mezzofanti’s appearance is nevertheless agreeable and - benevolent. Since he has been Prefect of the Vatican in Mai’s - stead, I have had occasion to see him daily. His talent is - that of a linguist, not that of a philologist. One forenoon in - the Vatican, he spoke modern Greek to a young man who came in, - Hebrew with a rabbi or ‘scrittore’ of the library, Russian with - a magnate who passed through to the manuscript rooms, Latin and - German with me, Danish with a young Danish archæologist who was - present, English with the English,—Italian with many. German he - speaks well, but almost too softly, like a Hamburgher; Latin - he does not speak particularly well, and his English is just - as middling. There is something about him that reminds me of a - parrot—he does not seem to abound in ideas; but his talent is - the more deserving of admiration, that the Italians have great - difficulties to cope with in learning a foreign language. He - will always remain a wonderful phenomenon, if not a miracle in - the dogmatic sense. It is said to have been observed, that he - often repeats the same ideas in conversation. He was entirely - dependant on Mai in his position in the Vatican, especially at - the commencement of his tenure of office, and manifested some - weakness in this respect. He told me he had learned Russian at - Bologna from a Pole, and so had been in danger of introducing - Polonicisms into his Russian. In the French wars, his visits - to the hospitals gave him an excellent opportunity of seeing - and conversing with men of different nations, and the march - of the Austrians made him acquainted with the dialect of the - gipsies. Thrice, he told me, he has been dangerously ill, - and in a kind of ‘confusion of languages.’ He is altogether - a man of a sensitive nervous system, and much more decidedly - and more pusillanimously attached to Catholicism than Mai. - He has never travelled, except to Rome and Naples; and to - Naples he went to study Chinese at the institute for the - education of natives of China as missionaries, and there he - fell dangerously ill. He seeks the society of foreigners - very eagerly, in order to converse with every one in his own - language. As a special favourite of the Pope, he enlivens - his holiness’s after-dinner hours (Verdaungs-stunden), and - is often invited to him in the afternoon: by his manifold - acquirements and the winning urbanity of his manners, he seems - as if born for the society of a court. He has made himself - popular among the learned foreigners who visit the Vatican, - by permitting them to continue their labours in the library - during certain days after the beginning of the holidays, on - which the library had ordinarily been closed with a view to - the adjustment and supervision of the MSS. His predilection - for acquiring foreign idioms is so strong that he observes and - imitates the provincial dialects and accents. He has carried - this so far, that, for example, he can distinguish the Hamburgh - and Hanoverian German very well. Even of Wendish he is not - ignorant. This is, indeed, a gift of no very high order; but - it is a gift nevertheless, and, when exercised in its more - dazzling points of practice, sets one in amazement. Mezzofanti - understands this well. The Italians admire this distinguished - and unassuming man, as the eighth wonder of the world, and - believe his reputation to be not only European, but Asiatic - and African also. He is said to speak some thirty languages - and dialects; but of course not all with equal readiness. The - Persian missionary, Sebastiani, who, in Napoleon’s time, played - an important political part in Persia, was eagerly sought after - by Mezzofanti when in Rome, that he might learn modern Persian - from him; Sebastiani, however, showed himself disinclined to - his society, which pained Mezzofanti much. Mezzofanti has been - called the modern Mithridates, and thought very highly of - altogether. In an intellectual point of view, many learned men, - even Italians, are certainly above him: his reading appears - at times shallow, owing to its having been so scattered, and - it has occurred that he has often repeated the same thing to - strangers; but his great and peculiar linguistic talent, which - seems as it were to spring from some innate sense, cannot be - denied; his good nature and politeness to the students who - frequent the Vatican are very great; and I am therefore unable - to comprehend how Blume (Iter Italicum, 1. 153,) can speak - of the opposite experience of learned travellers during his - residence at Bologna. - - Mezzofanti is fond of perpetuating his memory in the albums of - his friends. He wrote in mine:— - - Ἔρχεται ἀνθρώποις λαθραίως ἔσχατον ἦμαρ, - Oἱ δὲ περὶ ζωῆς πολλὰ μονοῦσι μάτην. - Χριστέ, σὺ μὲν πάντων ἀρχὴ, σù δὲ καί τέλος ἐσσί; - Ἔν τε σὸι ἐιρήνη ἐστὶ καὶ ἡσυχίη.”[472] - -I shall leave the greater part of these strictures, from their very -generality, to be judged by the facts and statements actually recorded -in these pages; merely observing that on all questions which involve the -depth and accuracy of Mezzofanti’s knowledge of particular subjects, -those only are entitled to speak with authority, who, like Bucheron, -Libri, and others elsewhere referred to, took the trouble to test it by -actual inquiry. It will be enough to say that, whenever M. Fleck has -ventured into details, his criticisms are palpably unjust. - -For instance, even at Rome, with all its proverbial fastidiousness, the -singular beauty of Mezzofanti’s Latin conversation which Fleck describes -as “not particularly good,” was freely and universally admitted; and -Bucheron, the Piedmontese professor who came to Bologna prepossessed with -the idea that Mezzofanti’s Latin scholarship was meagre and superficial, -was obliged to confess, after a long and searching conversation, that his -acquaintance with the Latin language and literature was as exact as it -was comprehensive. - -In like manner M. Fleck takes upon him to pronounce that Mezzofanti’s -English was “just as middling” as his Latin. Now I need hardly recall -the testimonies of Mr. Harford, Stewart Rose, Byron, Lady Morgan, Lady -Blessington, and every other English traveller who conversed with him, -as completely refuting this depreciatory estimate. The truth is, that -most of the English and Irish visitors with whom I have spoken, have -agreed with me in considering that, in his manner of speaking English, -the absence of all foreign peculiarities was so complete as to render it -difficult, in a short conversation, to detect that he was a foreigner. -“One day,” Cardinal Wiseman relates, “Mezzofanti then a prelate, visited -me, and shortly after an Irish gentleman called who had arrived that -moment in Rome. I was called out, and left them together for some time. -On my returning, Mezzofanti took leave. I asked the other who he thought -that gentleman was. He replied, looking surprised at the question, ‘_An -English Priest_, I suppose.’” - -On another occasion, about the same period, the late Dr. Baines, Vicar -Apostolic of the Western district, having been present at one of the -polyglot exhibitions in the Propaganda, and having there witnessed the -extraordinary versatility of Mezzofanti’s powers, returned with him after -the exhibition. “We dined together,” said Dr. Baines, “and I entreated -him, having been in the tower of Babel all the morning, to let us stick -to English for the rest of the day. Accordingly, we did stick to English, -which he spoke as fluently as we do, and with the same accuracy, not -only of grammar but of idiom. His only trip was in saying, ‘That was -before the time when I remember,’ instead of ‘before my time.’ Once, -too, I thought him mistaken in the pronunciation of a word. But when -I returned to England, I found that my way was either provincial or -old-fashioned, and that I was wrong and he was right.”[473] - -Nor was this fluency in speaking English confined to the ordinary topics -of conversation, or to the more common-place words of the language. His -vocabulary was as extensive and as various as it was select. A curious -example of this, not only as regards English but also in reference to -German, was told to me by Cardinal Wiseman. - -One broiling day he and Mr. Monckton Milnes were walking in company with -Mezzofanti across the scorching pavement of the Piazza SS. Apostoli. They -were speaking German at the time. - -“Well!” said Mr. Milnes, utterly overcome by the heat and glare, “this -is what you may call a—what is the German,” he added, turning to Dr. -Wiseman, “for ‘_sweltering_?’” - -“‘_Schwülig_,’ of course,” suggested Mezzofanti, without a moment’s pause! - -I have heard several similar anecdotes illustrating the minuteness of -his acquaintance with other languages; and when it is remembered, that -his stock of words was in great measure drawn from books, and those -generally the classics of their respective languages, it need hardly -be considered matter of surprise, that, as, in English, Lady Morgan -found “his turn of phrase and peculiar selection of words to be those -of the “Spectator,” so other foreigners have been struck by finding an -Italian model his conversational style upon the highest and most refined -standards in their respective literatures. One instance may suffice as -a specimen. Professor Carlson of the university of Upsala, who was for -a considerable time engaged in the Vatican Library, in examining the -papers of Queen Christina, and was thus thrown for weeks into constant -communication with Mezzofanti, assured my friend Mr. Wackerbarth of the -same university, that Mezzofanti spoke the language perfectly—“quite -like a native;” and that not only as regards the words, but also as -regards the accent and rhythm of the language, which is very difficult. -The Swedish and Danish languages are very much alike, though differing -widely in accent and musical character. The Professor declared, that -Mezzofanti was perfectly at home in both, as well as regards their -affinities as their differences. He added, that if there were any fault -to find with Mezzofanti’s speaking of Swedish, it was _perhaps a trifle -too grammatically accurate_: if that can be considered as a fault. This -may perhaps be better understood when explained, that in Swedish the -difference between the spoken and written language, is perhaps more -than in most languages, many words being inflected in the written, -but not in the spoken language. Thus the verb “kan,” (can,) is in the -plural, “kunna;” but in conversation the plural is “kan,” the same -as the singular. Now, from the anecdote already told regarding young -Uttini,[474] it appears that Mezzofanti was almost entirely self-taught -in Swedish; and I infer from the catalogue of his library that his course -of Swedish reading lay exclusively among the purest classics of that -language. I am informed by Mr. Wackerbarth, that Count Oxenstjerna, son -of the classical Swedish translator of Milton and Dante, who conversed -with him at Rome, found him thoroughly familiar with his father’s -works,[475] and in general critically acquainted with all the masters of -Swedish style. - -Indeed there is hardly any circumstance connected with this extraordinary -gift more calculated to excite wonder than the extent and accuracy of his -acquaintance with the various literatures of the languages to which he -had applied himself. The fact is attested by so many witnesses that it is -impossible to doubt it. Numerous instances have been already cited; but -I cannot pass from this period of his life without adding a few others, -chiefly regarding oriental languages, taken almost at random from many -independent testimonies which have been communicated to me by persons who -enjoyed his intimacy during the early years of his residence at Rome. - -In a commission for the revision of the liturgical books of the Armenian -rite appointed by Pope Gregory XVI., he was associated with a native -Armenian scholar, Father Arsenius Angiarakian, Abbot of the Monastery of -St. Gregory the Illuminator. This learned ecclesiastic, in a letter dated -August 15, 1855, assures me that during the frequent opportunities of -observation which a literary inquiry of such exceeding delicacy afforded, -he was astonished (_ho dovuto stupire_) at the profound knowledge of -the ancient language of Armenia, exhibited by his associate. He adds -that Mezzofanti “spoke the vulgar Armenian with perfect freedom, and in -all its dialects.” Mgr. Hurmuz, the Armenian Archbishop of Sirace, in a -letter of May 24th, in the same year, attests that Mezzofanti’s Armenian -scholarship “was not confined to the knowledge of the language, ancient -and modern; he also knew the history of the Armenian nation, and of -science and art among them, together with their periods of progress and -decay.” - -Father Arsenius frequently introduced oriental visitors, especially Turks -and Persians, to Mezzofanti. Ahmed Fethi Pasha, with his Secretary, -Sami Effendi, was presented to him on his way to London in 1836. After -a long interview he declared to Father Arsenius, that “Mezzofanti was -not only perfectly at home in the vocabulary, the structure, and the -pronunciation, both of Turkish and of Persian, but thoroughly and -profoundly versed (_possedeva per eccellenza_) in both literatures—being -master of the great classic prose writers and poets of both, and their -literary history.” He received the same assurances as to both languages, -at various times, from Redschid Pasha, Ali Pasha, Fuad Effendi, and -Shekib Effendi. - -A native Syrian whom M. Antoine d’Abbadie met in Rome in 1839, assured -him that “Mezzofanti’s knowledge of Arabic and fluency in speaking it -were both equally admirable.”[476] - -Speaking of the literature of Greece, Monsignor Missir, the learned Greek -Archbishop of Irenopolis who has for many years resided at Rome, declares -(in a letter of May 21st, 1855,) his belief that “Mezzofanti was as fully -master of the ancient Greek, as he was of Latin or Italian, and that -there was scarce a Greek author, ancient or modern, sacred or profane, -whom he had not read.” The abate Pietro Matranga,[477] a Greek of Sicily, -and professor of Greek in the Greek College of St. Athanasius, confirms -this impression to a great extent. He states (August 17th, 1855) that “in -examining the students of the Greek College, (as was his custom for many -years) in the classical authors, both the orators and the tragedians, -Mezzofanti never had occasion to take a book into his hands; being able -on the passage being indicated by the professor, to repeat it from -memory.” - -A Polish priest named Ozarowski, stated as much for Polish literature to -Dr. Cox. - -Nay, even in such an out-of-the-way literature as that of Sicily, -the same abate Matranga assures me that he was equally versed. “He -delighted,” says the abate, “in repeating from memory the poetry of the -Sicilian poet, Giovanni Meli,”[478] a writer who although of the highest -fame among his countrymen, is hardly known even by name outside of his -native island. - -I cannot close, however, without saying that I have not found any -evidence of his having being equally familiar with another exceedingly -important literature of the East—the ancient Syriac. Vague statements -I have heard in abundance; but no one to whom I have had access could -speak with certainty; and Signor Matteo Schiahuan, professor of that -language in the Propaganda, considered him but moderately versed therein, -(_una mediocre cognizione_.) This will appear the more difficult of -explanation, as the Syriac department of his catalogue is tolerably -extensive, and is abundantly supplied with at least the elementary books -of that language. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -[1836-1838.] - - -One evening about this time, Dr. Wiseman, meeting Mezzofanti in the -Piazza di Spagna, inquired where he was going. - -“To the Propaganda,” he replied; “I have to give a lesson there.” - -“In what language?” asked Dr. Wiseman. - -“In Californian,” said Mezzofanti. “I am teaching it to the Californian -youths whom we have there.” - -“Californian!” exclaimed his friend, “From whom can you possibly have -learned that out-of-the-way tongue?” - -“_From themselves_,” replied Mezzofanti: “and now I am teaching it to -them grammatically.” - -This interesting anecdote illustrates another curious phase of -Mezzofanti’s marvellous faculty—the manner in which he dealt with -a language, not only new to himself, but entirely unwritten, -unsystematized, and, in a word, destitute of all the ordinary aids and -appliances of study. - -Two native Californians, children of one of the many Indian tribes of -that peninsula, were sent to Rome to be educated at the Propaganda. One -of these died not very long after his arrival; the other, whose native -name was Tac, and who exhibited much more talent than his companion, -lived in the Propaganda for about three years, but eventually sunk under -the effects of the Roman climate, and perhaps, of the confinement and -unwonted habits of collegiate life. To these youths, from the day of -their arrival, Mezzofanti attached himself with all the interest which a -new language always possessed for him.[479] - -The Indians of the Californian peninsula are broken up into several -independent tribes, the principal of which are three in number, the -Picos, the Waicuros, and the Laymones. Their languages are as various -as their subdivisions of race. In the days of the Spanish missionaries, -there could hardly be found any two or three missions in which the same -dialect was spoken;[480] insomuch that the fathers of these missions have -never succeeded in doing for the native language, what they have done for -most of the other languages of Northern and Central America—reducing it -to an intelligible grammatical system.[481] Upon Mezzofanti, therefore, -in his intercourse with these youths, devolved all the trouble of -discovering the grammatical structure of the Californian language, and -of reducing it to rules. It was a most curious process. He began by -making his pupils recite the Lord’s Prayer, until he picked up first the -general meaning, and afterwards the particular sounds, and what may be -called the rhythm of the language. The next step was to ascertain and to -classify the particles, both affixes and suffixes; to distinguish verbs -from nouns, and substantives from adjectives; to discover the principal -inflexions of both. Having once mastered the preliminaries, his power -of generalising seemed rather to be an instinct than an exercise of the -reasoning faculty. With him the knowledge of words led, almost without an -effort, to the power of speaking. - -I have been assured by the Rev. James Doyle, who was a student of -the Propaganda at the time, and who had frequent opportunities of -witnessing Mezzofanti’s conversation with these youths, that his -success was complete, at least so far as could be judged from external -appearance—from his fluency, his facility of speech, and all the other -outward indications of familiarity.[482] Some time before the arrival of -these Californians, and soon after Mezzofanti’s coming to Rome, Bishop -Fenwick, of Cincinnati, had sent for education to the Propaganda two -North American Indians, youths of the Ottawa tribe, then residing near -Mackinaw, at the upper end of Lake Michegan. The elder of these, named -Augustine Hamelin, was a half-breed, being the son of a French father; -the younger, whose Indian name was _Maccodobenesi_, (“the Blackbird,”) -was of pure Ottawa blood.[483] Unhappily, as almost invariably happens -in similar circumstances, the Indian, although a youth of much promise -and very remarkable piety, pined away in the College, and eventually -died from the bursting of a blood-vessel. Augustin Hamelin, the elder, -spent a considerable time in the Propaganda, where he studied with -great success, but in the end, being seized with blood-spitting, the -authorities of the College, apprehensive of a recurrence of the same -disease which had befallen Maccodobenesi, judged it more prudent to -send him back to America. In consequence, he rejoined his tribe in the -year 1835, or 1836. Mrs. Jameson, who in her “Rambles among the Red -Men,” speaks of the Roman Catholic Ottawa converts in general, as “in -appearance, dress, intelligence, industry, and general civilization, -superior to the converts of all other communions,” refers in particular -to “a well-looking young man, dressed in European fashion and in black, -of mixed blood, French and Indian, who had been sent, when young, to be -educated at the Propaganda, and was lately come to settle as a teacher -and interpreter among his people.”[484] This youth, there can be no -doubt, was Hamelin. Having come soon afterwards to Washington, as one -of a deputation from his tribe to negociate a treaty with the United -States Government, he produced a great sensation by his high education, -his great general knowledge, and especially his skill in languages; and -on a subsequent occasion, in 1840, Bishop O’Connor, of Pittsburgh, who -had known him in the Propaganda, and to whom I am indebted for these -particulars regarding him, encountered him in Philadelphia, engaged in a -similar mission to the American Government. - -The well-known Indian philologer, M. du Ponceau, met him about the same -time, and speaks with much praise of his intelligence and ability. It -was from Hamelin that M. du Ponceau obtained the information regarding -the Ottawa language which he has used in the comparative vocabulary of -Indian languages, appended to his _Memoire sur le Systeme Grammaticale -des Langues Indiennes_.[485] - -Whether Mezzofanti learned the Ottawa dialect from these youths I have -not positively ascertained. Indeed it is difficult to say at what precise -time he first directed his attention to the Indian languages of North -America. He certainly knew something of them before he left Bologna. -He read for M. Libri, in 1830, a book in one of the Indian languages. -Prince Lewis Lucian Bonaparte too, in a communication with which he -has honoured me, mentions a conversation with him at Bologna, in which -he spoke of these Indian languages, and alluded to one in particular in -which the letter _B_ is wanting; “not,” as he explained to the Prince, -“on account of any peculiarity in the genius of the language which -excludes this sound, but because the Indians of this tribe wear a heavy -ornament suspended by a ring from the under lip, which by dragging the -under lip downwards, and thus preventing its contact with the upper, -renders it impossible for them to produce the sound of _B_ or any other -labial.” It is probable therefore, that even before he first met Hamelin -and his companion, Mezzofanti had already learnt something of these -Indian languages; and as, in his conversation with Dr. Kip, some years -later, the only languages which he mentioned as known to him are the -Chippewa, the Delaware, and the Algonquin, it is most likely that it -was the first of these—a variety of which is spoken by the Ottawas—that -formed his medium of conversation with these youths. On this point, Dr. -O’Connor is unable to speak from his own knowledge. - -The Indian language which he knew best, however, was the Algonquin, the -parent of a large progeny of dialects; and this he learnt not from the -natives, but from Father Thavenet, of the congregation of St. Sulpice, -for many years a missionary among that tribe, and perhaps more profoundly -skilled in their language[486] than any European scholar before his time. -Of the Algonquin Mezzofanti became completely master—a success which can -only be appreciated by those who understand the peculiar,[487] and to a -European entirely novel structure of these languages. - - * * * * * - -But whatever uncertainty may exist as to the manner in which he acquired -these particular languages, there are many others with regard to which it -cannot be doubted that he turned most industriously to account, during -these years, the many resources supplied by the Propaganda, and that to -this noble institution he was indebted for many of his later acquisitions. - -It may perhaps be remembered, that, when Dr. Tholuck saw him in 1830, -and changed quite suddenly to Arabic in the midst of a conversation in -German, although he replied in that language “without hesitation and -quite correctly,” yet he “spoke very slowly, and, as it were, composing -the words one with another.” Now Dr. O’Connor informs me, that, from the -day of his first coming to the Propaganda, he “fastened upon” an Egyptian -student named Sciahuan, with whom he conversed continually in Arabic; and -that he also undertook (thus enjoying an opportunity of practice in two -languages at once,) to instruct in it a young Maltese, likewise a student -of the college. With what success this twofold practice was attended may -be inferred from the fact, already recorded, that, a few years later, -when M. d’Abbadie was in Rome (in 1839,) he was told by a native Syrian -that Mezzofanti’s fluency, as well as his knowledge of Arabic, were both -admirable.[488] - -Another language which Mezzofanti, in 1839, told Dr. Tholuck he had -studied, but in which Dr. Tholuck had no means of trying him, was the -Albanese. The late M. Matranga mentioned that he also spoke this language -with some Albanian students who were in the Propaganda, soon after his -arrival in Rome: but that, as they were from upper Albania, and spoke a -corrupt half Turkish dialect of Albanese, he conversed but rarely with -them. I may add, however, that Signor Agostino Ricci who came to the -Propaganda in 1846, assured me, in a note written two years since,[489] -that, between 1846, and the Cardinal’s death in 1849, he had “repeatedly -conversed with him in Albanese, and that he spoke it very well.” (_assai -bene_.) - -For Armenian, Turkish, and Greek, the Propaganda also supplied abundant -resources. The students, Hassun and Musabini—the first, it will be -recollected, whom Mezzofanti chanced to meet at his earliest visit—ever -afterwards continued his especial favourites and friends. With the former -he always spoke in Turkish, with the latter in Greek. A youth named -Tigrani, supplied him with practice in Armenian; but to this language, -which he enjoyed other opportunities of cultivating, he seldom devoted -much of the time which he spent in the Propaganda. It was the same for -most of the European languages which he constantly met outside. In the -college, for the most part, he confined himself to those which he had no -means of cultivating elsewhere. - -Without wearying the reader, however, with further details, I shall -transcribe (although it regards a later period,) an interesting letter -received from the Rev. Charles Fernando, the missionary apostolic at the -Point of Galle in Ceylon, which enters briefly, but yet very fully and -distinctly, into the particulars of the languages which Mezzofanti used -to speak in the Propaganda, during the writer’s residence there as a -student. M. Fernando is a native of Colombo in the Island of Ceylon. He -came to Rome early in the year 1843, and remained until after the death -of Cardinal Mezzofanti. - - “When I left Ceylon for Rome,” he writes, August 29, 1855, - “I knew but very little of the Cingalese language; a very - small vocabulary of domestic words, and a facility in reading - in Cingalese characters, without understanding the written - language, was the full stock of my knowledge when I reached - the college of the Propaganda. From such a master you might be - disposed to augur badly of the scholar. Still it was not so. - - A few days after my arrival in college, I was introduced to his - Eminence in his polyglot library and study room in the college - itself. Cardinal Mezzofanti knew nothing of the Cingalese - before I went to the Propaganda, yet in a few days he was able - to assist me to put together a short plain discourse for our - academical exhibition of the Epiphany. - - My own knowledge of the language, nevertheless, was not at that - time such as to warrant my saying that he knew the Cingalese, - or that he spoke it well. This, however, I can assert - confidently, that, after a few conversations with me, (I don’t - recollect having been with him above a dozen times for the - purpose,) he thoroughly entered into the nature and system of - the Cingalese language. - - Among the other languages of Hindostan, I can only speak as to - one. In my time there were no students who spoke the Mahratta, - Canarese, or Malayalim; but I heard him speak Hindostani with a - student who is now missionary apostolic in Agra, where he was - brought up, the Rev. William Keegan. - - The most remarkable characteristic of the Cardinal as a - linguist was his power of passing from one language to another - without the least effort. I recollect having often seen him - speak to a whole _Camerata_ of the Propaganda students, - addressing each in his own language or dialect in rapid - succession, and with such ease, fluency, and spirit, and so - much of the character and tone of each language that it used - to draw a burst of merry laughter from the company; every one - delighted to have heard his own language spoken by the amiable - Cardinal with its characteristic precision. I may mention the - names of many with whom the Cardinal thus conversed; with Moses - Ngau (who died in Pegu not long ago) in the Peguan language; - with Zaccaria Cohen in Abyssinian; with Gabriel, another - Abyssinian, in the Amariña dialect; with Sciata, an Egyptian, - in the Coptic; with Hollas in Armenian; with Churi[490] in - Arabic; with Barsciu in Syriac; with Abdo in Arabico-maltese, - (the Maltese speak a mixture of Arabic and Italian); in Tamulic - with Pedro Royapen, (of this, however, I am not so sure); - with Leang and Mong in Chinese; with Jakopski and Arabagiski - in Bulgarian; with Beriscia and Baddovani in Albanian. With - regard to Malay, Tibetan, and Mantchu, I cannot bear witness, - as there were no students who spoke those dialects in my time. - As for the European languages, I can assure you that I heard - the Cardinal speak a great variety, Polish, Hungarian,[491] - Rhetian, Swedish, Danish, German, Russian, &c.” - -The caution with which M. Fernando speaks on the subject of Cingalese, -as well as of the rest of the Indian languages, makes his testimony in -other respects more valuable, inasmuch as I had frequently heard it said -in Rome that the Cardinal spoke “Hindostani and all the dialects of -India.” It needed, however, but a moment’s recollection of the number -and variety of these dialects, (several of which till very recently were -almost unknown even by name to Europeans,) to assure me that this was a -great exaggeration. I am inclined to think that his knowledge of Indian -languages lay entirely among those which are derived from the Sanscrit. -The notion of Colebrook and the philologers of his time, that all the -languages of India are of Sanscrit origin, is now commonly abandoned. -It is found that the languages of the Deccan have but little of the -Sanscrit element; and Mr. Caldwell, in his recent comparative grammar -of the South-Indian Languages,[492] has enumerated under the general -designation of Dravidian, nine un-Sanscritic languages of this region -of India, among which the best known are the Tamil, Telugu, Canarese, -and Malayalim. There seems no reason to believe that Mezzofanti was -familiarly acquainted with any one of these four, or indeed with any -member of Dravidian family, unless the Guzarattee can be included therein. - -M. Fernando’s hesitation regarding his knowledge of Tamil, induced me to -inquire of Rev. Dr. MacAuliffe, lately a Missionary at Madras, who, after -spending several years in that Presidency, had entered the Propaganda, -and who knew the Cardinal at the same time with M. Fernando. Dr. -MacAuliffe informs me, that his eminence did not know Tamil. The Indian -languages which he knew, according to Dr. MacAuliffe, were Hindostani and -Mahratta; that he was acquainted with at least the first of these there -seems no possible doubt, both from M. Fernando’s testimony, and from that -of Count Lackersteen of Calcutta, a native East Indian gentleman, who -assures me[493] that he conversed with him in Hindostani, in 1843-4. As -to the Mahratta dialect, I have not (beyond Dr. MacAuliffe’s assurance) -been able to obtain any direct information; but Mr. Eyoob, an Armenian -merchant of Calcutta, testifies to the Cardinal’s acquaintance with -another Indian language—the Guzarattee. Mr. Eyoob saw the Cardinal in -the same year with Count Lackersteen, and writes[494] that, when he -was introduced to his eminence as a native of Bombay, the Cardinal at -once addressed him in _Guzarattee_. Mr. Eyoob adds, that the Cardinal -also spoke with him in Armenian and in Portuguese, in both of which -languages his accent, vocabulary, and grammatical accuracy, were beyond -all exception. Count Lackersteen’s letter fully confirms so much of this -statement as regards Portuguese. The Count also spoke with Mezzofanti in -Persian: but, as he does not profess to be a profound Persian scholar, -his testimony on this head is not of so much value. - -By far the most remarkable, however, of Mezzofanti’s successes in the -Propaganda was his acquisition of Chinese. The difficulty of that -language for Europeans has long been proverbial,[495] and it argued no -ordinary courage in a scholar now on the verge of his sixtieth year to -enter regularly upon such a study. His first progress at Naples, before -he was interrupted by the severe illness which there seized him, has -been already described. It was not for a considerable time after his -return, that he was enabled to resume the attempt systematically. A -wish was expressed by the authorities of the Propaganda that a select -number of the students of the Naples college should be sent to Rome for -the completion of their theological studies. Three young Chinese had -already visited the Propaganda while Mezzofanti was still in Bologna, -one of whom, named Pacifico Yu, offered himself to the Cardinal Prefect, -as a missionary to the Corea, at a period when the attempt was almost -a certain road to martyrdom: but it was not until the year 1835-6 that -the design of adopting a few of the Neapolitan students into the college -of the Propaganda was actually carried out. Don Raffaelle Umpierres, -for many years Procurator of the mission at Macao, was soon afterwards -appointed their prefect and professor; and under his auspices and with -the assistance of the young Chinese, Mezzofanti resumed the study with -new energy. His success is admitted on all hands to have been almost -unexampled. Certainly it has never been surpassed by any European -not resident in China. In the year 1843, I was myself present while -he conversed with two youths, named Leang and Mong, and although my -evidence cannot extend beyond these external signs, I can at least bear -witness to the fluency with which he spoke, and the ease and spirit with -which he seemed to sustain the conversation. But his complete success -is placed beyond all doubt by an attestation forwarded to me, by the -abate Umpierres, the Chinese Professor,[496] already named, who declares -that he “frequently conversed with the Cardinal in Chinese, from the -year 1837, up to the date of his death, and that he not only spoke the -mandarin Chinese,[497] but understood other dialects of the language.” - -Mezzofanti himself freely confessed the exceeding difficulty which he -had found in mastering this language. It cost him, as he assured Father -Arsenius Angiarakian, four months of uninterrupted study. Speaking -once with Cardinal Wiseman of his method of linguistic study, he said -that the “ear and not the eye was for him the ordinary medium through -which language was conveyed;” and he added, that the true origin of the -difficulty which he had felt in learning Chinese, was not so much the -novelty of its words and forms, as the fact that, departing from the -analogy of other languages, it disconcerted the pre-arranged system on -which he had theretofore proceeded; it _has an eye-language distinct from -the ear-language_, which he was obliged to make an especial study. - -It is worth while to mention that the Cardinal successfully accomplished -in a short time what cost the missionaries in China, with all their -advantages of position, many years of labour, having actually preached -to the Chinese students in the Propaganda, on occasion of one of the -spiritual retreats which are periodically observed in ecclesiastical -seminaries. - -It must not be supposed, however, that the Propaganda was his only school -of languages. Not unfrequently, also, missionaries from various parts of -the world, who repaired to the Propaganda on the affairs of their several -missions, supplied a sort of supplement to the ordinary resources of -the institution. In this way a German missionary, Father Brunner, (now, -I believe, superior of a religious congregation in the United States,) -initiated him in the languages of Western Africa. Father Brunner had been -for a time a missionary in Congo. On his arrival in Rome, Mezzofanti -placed himself in communication with him; and Cardinal Reisach, (who was -at that time Rector of the Propaganda,) states that he soon progressed -so far as to be able to keep up a conversation in the language. The -general language of Congo comprises many distinct branches, the Loango, -the Kakongo, the Mandongo, the Angolese, and the Camba.[498] Of these -Mezzofanti applied himself especially to the Angolese, in which he more -than once composed pieces for recitation at the academical exhibition of -the Epiphany. Two of these, which will be found in the appendix, have -been submitted to the criticism of Mr. Consul Brande, long a resident -at Loango, who pronounces them “to exhibit a correct knowledge of the -Angolese or Bunda language.”[499] - -I may add to the number of those with whom he was accustomed to speak -oriental languages, two others mentioned to me by Cardinal Wiseman. The -first was a learned Chaldean, Paul Alkushi, who had once been a student -of the Propaganda, but relinquished the intention of embracing the -ecclesiastical profession. The other was a converted Jew, a native of -Bagdad, and who, although otherwise illiterate, spoke fluently Hebrew, -Arabic, and Persian. He was familiarly known in Rome by the sobriquet of -“_Shalom_,” from the habitual salutation with which he used to address -his friends at meeting and parting. - - * * * * * - -The only letters of this period which I have been able to procure are -two, addressed to his Bolognese friends, Michael Ferrucci and Liborio -Veggetti. The former (dated June 6th, 1836,) is in acknowledgment of some -copies of Latin Epigrams, partly from his own pen, partly from that of -the Canonico Schiassi, which Ferrucci had sent to Mezzofanti: but it is -chiefly noticeable for the warm interest which it evinces in the welfare -of his old friend, who had written to ask advice and assistance in his -candidature for a professorship in one of the Tuscan Universities, Signor -Ferrucci, some time afterwards, went to Geneva, as professor of rhetoric, -but he eventually obtained an appointment in the University of Pisa, -where he is now Librarian. - -The letter to Veggetti, (February 17, 1838,) regards his appointment as -Librarian of the University of Bologna, in which Mezzofanti had been -much interested. - - “I am delighted that my wishes have not been in vain or - without effect, and that the Library, for so many years the - object of my care, is confided to the direction of an old and - distinguished pupil of my own. I need not give you any advice, - knowing, as I do, what exactness and assiduity you have always - shown in the discharge of your duties. Knowing, also, the good - understanding you maintain with my nephew, Monsignor Minarelli, - in whom I repose the fullest confidence, I need only say that - if you consult with him in any doubt which may arise regarding - your duties, it will be the same as if you were speaking with - the old librarian himself. - - I must confess I am more gratified at your having obtained this - appointment, than if you had been appointed to the chair of - History, a difficult post, and more difficult the farther one - advances. And while I congratulate you, I must also felicitate - myself on leaving in such excellent hands the precious deposit - hitherto entrusted to my own care. I will not fail to profit by - your work which you have so kindly presented to me.” - -Dr. Veggetti still holds the office of Librarian at Bologna. He continued -to correspond occasionally with Mezzofanti, up to the period of his -death. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -[1838-1841.] - - -Among the offices connected with the Roman Court, there is a certain -class, known as _Poste Cardinalizie_, the tenure of which is, in the -ordinary course of affairs, a step to the Cardinalate. The chief -keepership of the Vatican Library is not necessarily one of these; -but it had long been known that Monsignor Mezzofanti was destined for -the purple; and, in a consistory held on the 12th of February, 1838, -he was “preconized” as Cardinal Priest, in company with three other -prelates—Angelo Mai, (who had been “reserved _in petto_” from the former -year,) Orioli, and Mellini. - -The order of Cardinal Priests, as is well known, are the representatives, -in the more modern constitution of the Roman church, of the ancient -_Presbyteri Cardinales_—the priests of the principal churches in which -Baptism was administered, (_tituli Cardinales_) of the ancient city. -Their number, which at the end of the fifth century was twenty-five, has -been gradually increased to fifty: but the memory of their primitive -institution is preserved in the titles under which they are named, and -which are taken from the churches over which the ancient Presbyters -presided. The title of Cardinal Mezzofanti was derived from the ancient -church of Saint Onuphrius, (Sant’ Onofrio,) on the Janiculum, which is -probably best known to visitors of Rome as the last resting-place of the -poet Tasso. - -To many persons, no doubt, the office of Cardinal has but little -significance, except as a part of the stately ceremonial of the Roman -court—a brilliant and enviable sinecure, sometimes the reward of -distinguished merit, sometimes the prize of political influence or -hereditary family claims. But to well informed readers it is scarcely -necessary to explain that the College of Cardinals forms, or rather -supplies, the entire deliberative and executive administration of the -Pope in the general management of the affairs of the Church; holding -permanently and systematically the place of the council of which we so -often read in the early centuries. By the ancient constitution of the -Sacred College, all matters of importance were considered and discussed -in the general meeting of the body, called the Consistory; but, in -the multiplication of business, it became necessary to distribute the -labour; and, since the latter part of the sixteenth century,[500] under -the great administrative Pontiffs, Paul IV., Pius IV., Pius V., and -above all Sixtus V., a system of “_congregations_” has arisen, by -which, as by a series of committees, the details of all the various -departments are administered; yet under the general superintendence of -the Pope himself, and subject, in all things, to his final revision. -Some of these congregations, (which amount to nearly twenty in all,) -consist exclusively of Cardinals; some are composed both of Cardinals -and prelates; and a few of prelates only: but, in almost every case, -the Prefect, at least, of the congregation is a Cardinal. Some -congregations meet every week, others only once a month; but in all -the leading ones, as for instance in the Propaganda, there is a weekly -meeting (_congresso_) of the Prefect and secretary with the clerks or -_minutanti_, for the despatch of pressing business or of affairs of -routine; all the business of these meetings being submitted to the Pope -for his approval. - -To each Cardinal, either as Prefect, or at least as member, four of -these congregations, as an ordinary rule, are assigned at his first -appointment; in many cases, the number is afterwards increased; and, -when it is remembered that in many of these the business is weighty -and complicated, often involving much documentary matter, extensive -theological or canonical research, and careful investigation of -precedents, &c.; and that these congregations, after all, form but a part -of the duties of a Cardinal; it will be understood that his position is -very far from the sinecure which the unreflecting may suppose it to be. - -In the congregations assigned to Cardinal Mezzofanti at his nomination, -regard was of course paid to his peculiar qualifications. He was named -Prefect of the “Congregation for the correction of the Liturgical Books -of the Oriental Church,” and also of the “Congregation of Studies.” -He was also, on the same grounds, appointed a member, not only of the -general “Congregation of the Propaganda,” but also of the special one “On -the affairs of the Chinese Mission,” and of those of “the Index,” “of -Rites,” and of “the Examination of Bishops.” - -With a similar consideration for his well known habits and tastes, and -with a due appreciation of the charity for the sick which had always -characterized him, he was named President of the great Hospital of San -Salvatore, and visitor of the House of Catechumens, in which, as being -chiefly destined for converted Jews and Mahomedans, his acquaintance with -the Hebrew and Arabic languages and literatures rendered his services -peculiarly valuable. - -The official revenue assigned from the Civil List for a cardinal resident -in Rome, is four thousand Roman crowns (between eight and nine hundred -pounds sterling); by far the greater part of which is absorbed in the -necessary expenses of his household, the payment of his chaplain, -secretary, and servants, the maintenance of his state equipage, &c.; -so that for those cardinals who, like Mezzofanti, possess no private -fortune, the remnant available for purely personal expenditure is very -trifling indeed. With Mezzofanti’s frugal and simple habits, however, it -not only proved amply sufficient to supply all his own modest wants, -but also enabled him to enlarge and extend the unostentatious charities -which, throughout his entire life, he had never failed to bestow, even -while he was himself struggling against the disadvantages of a narrow -and precarious income. So well known, indeed, were his almost prodigal -charities, while in charge of the Vatican, and his consequent poverty at -the time of his nomination to the Cardinalate, that the Pope, Gregory -XVI., himself presented him, from the Pontifical establishment, the two -state carriages[501] which form the necessary equipage of a Cardinal in -all processions and other occasions of public ceremonial. - -He selected for his residence the Palazzo Valentiniani, in the Piazza -SS. Apostoli; where his nephew, Gaetano Minarelli, and Anna, one of -his unmarried nieces, came to live with him on his nomination to the -Cardinalate, and continued to reside until his death. - -The news of his elevation was received with great pleasure at Bologna, -and was the occasion of many public and private demonstrations. The -most remarkable of these was from the Academy of the _Filopieri_, of -which he had been the President at the time of his removal from Bologna. -The Italians are singularly conservative of established forms; the -members of the Academy, in accordance with a usage which may almost be -called classical, met in full assembly (with all the accompaniments of -decorations, inscriptions, and music, in which Italian taste is displayed -on such occasions), to congratulate their fellow-academician. The -congratulatory addresses, however, which in England would have been a set -of speeches and resolutions, here, as became the “Lovers of the Muses,” -took a poetical form; and a series of odes, sonnets,[502] elegies, -_canzoni_, _terzine_, and epigrams, in Greek, Latin, and Italian, were -recited by the members. Some of them are exceedingly spirited and -graceful. They were all collected into a little volume, which, with great -delicacy and good taste, is dedicated not to the Cardinal himself, but to -his nephew, Monsignor Joseph Minarelli, of whom I have already spoken, -and who was at this time Rector of the university of Bologna.[503] - -A still more characteristic tribute on his elevation was a polyglot -visit of congratulation from his young friends in the Propaganda. A -party of fifty-three, comprising all the languages and nationalities at -that time represented in the institution, waited upon him to offer their -greetings in their various tongues. The new Cardinal was at once amused -by the novel exhibition, and gratified by the compliment thus delicately -implied. True, however, to his old character for readiness and dexterity, -he was found fully equal to the occasion, and answered each in his own -language with great spirit and precision.[504] - -Cardinal Mezzofanti’s elevation, of course, brought him into closer, -and, if possible, more affectionate relations with the Pope. Among -his brethren of the Sacred College, too, there were many whom, even -as prelate, he could call his friends. I have already spoken of his -relations with the learned Cardinal Giustiniani, and the venerable -Cardinal Pacca. With Cardinal Lambruschini, the Secretary of State, and -Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of the Propaganda, he had long been on a -footing of most confidential intimacy. His especial friends, however, -were Cardinals Mai, Polidori, Bernetti, and the amiable and learned -English Cardinal Acton, who, although not proclaimed till 1842, was named -_in petto_ in the year after the elevation of Cardinal Mezzofanti.[505] - -But, with the exception of the public and ceremonial observances which -his new dignity exacted, it brought no change in his simple, and almost -ascetic manner of life. The externals of his household, of course, -underwent considerable alteration, but his personal habits remained the -same. He continued to rise at the same hour: his morning devotions, -his daily mass, his visits to the hospitals, and other private acts -of charity, remained unaltered. His table, though displaying somewhat -more ceremonial, continued almost as frugal, and entirely as simple, as -before his elevation. He persevered, unless when prevented by his various -official duties, in paying his daily visit to the Propaganda, and in -assisting and directing the studies of its young inmates, with all his -accustomed friendliness and familiarity. His affability to visitors, -even of the humblest class, was, if possible, increased. Above all, as -regarded his favourite studies, and the exercise of his wonderful talent, -his elevation to the Cardinalate brought no abatement of enthusiasm, and -no relaxation of energy. It is not merely that the visitors who saw him -as Cardinal, concur in attesting the unaltered activity of his mind, and -the undiminished interest with which he availed himself of every new -opportunity of perfecting or exercising his favourite accomplishment. -For years after his elevation, he continued to add zealously and -successfully to the stores which he had already laid up. There is -distinct evidence that after this period, (although he had now entered -upon his sixty-fourth year,) he acquired several languages, with which he -had previously had little, and perhaps no acquaintance. - -A very interesting instance has been communicated to me by M. Antoine -d’Abbadie,[506] who visited the Cardinal in 1839, at Rome. M. d’Abbadie -had been a traveller from early manhood. Setting out in the year 1837, -in company with his brother Arnauld, to explore the sources of the -White Nile, he traversed the greater part of north eastern Africa. -Their wanderings, however, proved a mission of religion and charity, no -less than of science. During their long and varied intercourse with the -several tribes of Abyssinia, they observed with painful interest that -strange admixture of primitive Catholic truth with gross and revolting -superstition by which all travellers have been struck; and their first -care was to study carefully the condition of the country and the -character of the people, with a view to the organization of a judicious -and effective missionary expedition by which their many capabilities -for good might be developed. Hence, it is that, while their letters, -reports, and essays, communicated to the various scientific journals and -societies of France and England,[507] have added largely to our knowledge -of the languages,[508] the geography, and the natural history of these -imperfectly explored provinces, their services to the Church by the -introduction of missionaries, by the advice and information which they -have uniformly afforded them, and even by their own personal co-operation -in the great work, have entitled them to the gratitude of all to whom the -interests of truth and civilization are dear. - -M. Antoine d’Abbadie, after two years spent in such labours, returned -to Europe in 1839, for the purpose of preparing himself for a further -and more systematic exploration. On arriving in Rome, he took an early -opportunity of waiting upon the Cardinal, accompanied by two Abyssinians, -who spoke only the Amarinna language, and by a Galla servant, whose -native (and only) language was the Ilmorma, a tongue almost entirely -unknown, even to the learned in this branch of philology.[509] M. -d’Abbadie himself spoke Basque, a language which was still new to -Mezzofanti; and he was thus witness of what was certainly a very unwonted -scene—the great Polyglottist completely at fault. - - “I saw Cardinal Mezzofanti,” writes M. d’Abbadie, “in 1839. - He asked me in Arabic what language I wished to speak, and I, - in order to test him, proposed conversing in Basque. I am far - from knowing this idiom well; but, as I transact my farmer’s - business in Basque, I can easily puzzle a foreigner in it. The - Cardinal waived my proposal, and asked me what African language - I would speak. I now spoke Amarinna, i.e., the language named - _Ancharica_ by Ludolf, who probably added the final _c_ in - order to suit the word to Latin articulation. Not being able - to answer in Amarinna, Mezzofanti said: _Ti amirnu timhirta - lisana Gi-iz_ (‘Have you the knowledge of the Gi-iz language?’) - This was well said, and beautifully pronounced, but shewed - that the Cardinal got his knowledge of Gi-iz from persons who - read, but did not speak it in general. I afterwards ascertained - in Abyssinia that no professor, i.e., no person accustomed to - colloquial Gi-iz, had been yet in Rome, during this century at - least. I may here mention that Gi-iz, generally called Ethiopic - in Europe, is the liturgical language in Abyssinia, where it - is looked on by the learned as a dead language, although it - is still spoken by at least one of the shepherd tribes near - the Red Sea. In my visit to Cardinal Mezzofanti, I had with me - two Amara Abyssines, with whom he could not speak, as neither - of them knew Gi-iz enough, and I had not yet learned that - language. My third companion was a Galla, who had taught me his - language, viz., Ilmorma, in a most tedious way, for he knew no - other tongue, and I was forced to elicit every meaning by a - slowly convergent series of questions, which I put every time - he used a word new to me. Some of these had until then remained - a mystery to me; as the word _self_, and some others of the - same abstract class. I had likewise laboured in vain to get - the Ilmorma word for ‘soul’; and having mentioned all this to - Mezzofanti, I added, that as a philologist and a father of the - church, he could render me no better service than giving me the - means of teaching my Galla barbarian that he had a soul to be - saved. ‘Could not your eminence,’ said I, ‘find the means of - learning from this African what is the word for soul? I have - written twelve hundred words of his language, which you will - certainly turn to better account than I can.’ The Cardinal - made no direct answer. I saw him several times afterwards, - and he always addressed me in Arabic; but, being a tyro in - that language, I could not pretend to judge his knowledge or - fluency. However, a native Syrian then in Rome, told me that - both were admirable: this referred, I suppose now, to the - Syrian dialect.” - -A failure so unusual for Mezzofanti, and in so many languages, could -not but prove a stimulus to the industry of this indefatigable student. -He was at the moment busily engaged in the revision of the Maronite and -Armenian liturgies;—a circumstance, by the way, which perhaps may account -for his passing over without notice, M. d’Abbadie’s proposal about the -Galla language;—but, a few months later, he addressed himself to the -Amarinna with all the energy of his most youthful days. How it ended, we -shall see. - -In the close of July, 1841, when I first had the honour of seeing him, -he was surrounded by a group of Abyssinians, who had just come to Rome -under the escort of Monsignor de Jacobis, the apostolic Prefect of the -Abyssinian mission. These Abyssinians were all reputed to be persons -of distinction among their countrymen, and several of the number were -understood to be professors and men of letters. The Cardinal was speaking -to them freely and without embarrassment; and his whole manner, as well -as theirs, appeared to me (so far as one entirely unacquainted with -the language could judge) to indicate that he spoke with ease, and was -understood by them without an effort. Thinking it probable, however, that -M. d’Abbadie during his second sojourn in Abyssinia, must have known -something of this mission, I thought it well to write to him on the -subject. He informed me, in reply, that the Abyssinians whom I had thus -seen were a deputation of the schismatical Christians of that country, -who had been sent by the native chieftains to Alexandria, to obtain -from the Patriarch (to whom they so far recognise their subjection) the -consecration of the Abun, or Primate, of their national church. Father -de Jacobis, who was their fellow-traveller as far as Alexandria, induced -them to accompany him to Rome, where they were so much struck with all -that they saw and heard, that “two out of the three professors of Gondar, -who were the leaders of the deputation, have, since their return, freely -and knowingly entered the one true Church—Amari, Kanfu, and the one-eyed -professor, Gab’ra Mikaël.” One of these told M. d’Abbadie that “Cardinal -Mezzofanti conversed very well with him in Amarinna, and that he also -knew the Gi-iz language.” He had thus learned the Amarinna between 1839 -and 1841. - - * * * * * - -I am indebted to M. d’Abbadie for an account of another still later -acquisition of the Cardinal’s declining years. Before the summer of 1841, -he had acquired the Amarinna language. Now at that time he was actually -engaged, with all the energy of his early years, in the study of the -proverbially “impossible”[510] Basque, in which, as we have seen, M. -d’Abbadie found him a novice in 1839. - -One of my companions in Rome in 1841, the lamented Guido Görres, of -Munich, son of the venerable author of that name, and himself one of the -most accomplished writers of Catholic Germany, having chanced to say to -the Cardinal that he was then engaged in the study of Basque, the latter -proposed that they should pursue it in company. Their readings had only -just commenced when I last saw Herr Görres; but M. d’Abbadie’s testimony -at a later date places the Cardinal’s success in this study likewise -entirely beyond question. He had not only learned before the year 1844, -the general body of the language, but even mastered its various dialects -so as to be able to converse both in the Labourdain and the Souletin; -which, it should be observed, are not simply dialects of Basque, but -minor sub-divisions of one out of the four leading dialects which prevail -in the different districts of Biscay and Navarre. - - “My friend M. Dassance,” says M. d’Abbadie, “who has published - several works, and who, after declining a bishopric, is still - a canon in the Bayonne Cathedral, told me the other day, that, - on visiting the Cardinal in 1844, he was surprised to hear him - speak French with that peculiar Parisian accent which pertains - to the ancient nobility of the Faubourg St. Germain. This is a - nice distinction of which several Frenchmen are not aware. On - hearing that Dassance was a Basque, the Cardinal immediately - said: _Mingo zitugu?_ (_verbatim_—‘Of whence have we you’?) - thus shewing that he had mastered the tremendous difficulty of - our vernacular verb. The ensuing conversation took place in the - pure Labourdain dialect, which is spoken here (at Urrugne,) - but one of the professors of the Bayonne Seminary, Father - Chilo, from Soule, avers that the Cardinal spoke to him in the - Souletin dialect.”[511] - -I afterwards shewed to M. d’Abbadie a short sentence in Basque which the -Cardinal wrote with his own hand, and which is printed among the fac -similes prefixed to this volume. - - Tauna! zu servitzea da erreguiñatea; - Zu maitatzea da zoriona, - “Lord! to serve Thee is to reign; - To love Thee, is happiness.” - -M. d’Abbadie, as also his Highness Prince Lewis L. Bonaparte, to whom M. -d’Abbadie submitted it, had some doubt as to the propriety of the form, -‘_zu_ servitzea,’ ‘_zu_ maitatzea’; both of them preferring to write -_zure_. But, as the dialect in which the sentence is written is that -of Guipuscoa, both his Highness and M. d’Abbadie have kindly taken the -trouble to refer the question to native Guipuscoan scholars; and I have -had the gratification to learn by a letter of M. d’Abbadie, (January -18th, 1858,) that “the construction ‘_zu_ servitzea,’ is perfectly -correct in Guipuscoan.” - -M. d’Abbadie subjoins, that, in addition to the authority of his friend, -M. Dassance, for the Cardinal’s knowledge of Basque, he has since been -assured by a Spanish lady, a native of San Sebastian, the capital of -Guipuscoa, that the Cardinal had also conversed with her in her native -Guipuscoan dialect. Moreover, when M. Manavit saw him in Rome in 1846, -he translated freely in his presence a newly published Basque catechism, -which M. Manavit presented to him on the part of the Bishop of Astros: -and several distinguished Biscayan ecclesiastics assured M. Manavit that -the Cardinal spoke both the dialects of Basque with equal fluency.[512] -In a word, it appears impossible to doubt the complete success of this, -one of his latest essays in the acquisition of a new language. - -As the object of this biography, however, is not merely to bring together -such marvels as these, but to collect all the materials for a just -portraiture of the linguist himself, I must place in contrast with these -truly wonderful narratives, the judgments of other travellers, in order -that the reader may be enabled to modify each by comparison with its -pendant, and to form his own estimate from a just combination of both. - -It must be confessed, as a set off against the wonders which have been -just recounted, that there were others of Mezzofanti’s visitors who were -unable to see in him any of these excellencies. I think, however, that -these depreciatory judgments will be found for the most part to proceed -from ignorant and superficial tourists, and from those who are least -qualified to form an accurate estimate of the attainments of a linguist. -One of the heaviest penalties of eminence is the exposure which it -involves to impertinent or malevolent criticism, nor is it wonderful that -one who received so great a variety of visitors as did Mezzofanti, should -have had his share of this infliction. - -Mrs. Paget, a Transylvanian lady, married to an English gentleman, who -saw Mezzofanti a little before M. d’Abbadie, is cited by Mr. Watts.[513] -Her characteristic is rather recklessness and ill-breeding than positive -malevolence. But as her strictures, ill-bred as they are, contain some -facts which tend to illustrate the main subject of inquiry, I shall -insert them without abridgment. - - “Mezzofanti entered, in conversation with two young Moors, - and, turning to us, asked us to be seated. On me his first - appearance produced an unfavourable impression. His age might - be about seventy; he was small in stature, dry, and of a pale - unhealthy look. His whole person was in monkey-like restless - motion. We conversed together for some time. He speaks - Hungarian well enough, and his pronunciation is not bad. I - asked him from whom he had learned it; he said from the common - soldiers at Milan. He had read the works of Kisfaludi and - Csokonai, Pethe’s Natural History, and some other Hungarian - books, but it seemed to me that he rather studies the words - than the subject of what he reads. Some English being present, - he spoke English with them very fluently and well; with me - he afterwards spoke French and German, and he even addressed - me in Wallachian; but to my shame I was unable to answer. He - asked if I knew Slowakian. In showing us some books, he read - out from them in Ancient and Modern Greek, Latin and Hebrew. To - a priest who was with us, and who had travelled in Palestine, - he spoke in Turkish. I asked him how many languages he knew: - ‘Not many,’ he replied, ‘for I only speak forty or fifty.’ - Amazing incomprehensible faculty! but not one that I should - in the least be tempted to envy; for the empty unreflecting - word-knowledge, and the innocently exhibited small vanity - with which he was filled, reminded me rather of a monkey or - a parrot, a talking machine, or a sort of organ wound up for - the performance of certain tunes, than of a being endowed with - reason. He can, in fact, only be looked upon as one of the - curiosities of the Vatican. - - “At parting, I took an opportunity of asking if he would allow - me to present an Hungarian book to the Vatican library. My - first care at my hotel was to send a copy of M. W.’s book, - ‘Balitéletekröl’ (‘On Prejudices’)[514] to the binder, and - a few days afterwards I took it, handsomely bound in white - leather, to Mezzofanti, whom I found in a hurry to go and - baptize some Jews and Moors. As soon as he saw the book, - without once looking into it, even to ascertain the name of the - author, he called out, ‘Ah! igen szép, igen szép, munka. Szepen - van bekötve. Aranyos, szép, szép, igen szép, igen koszönöm.’ - (Ah! very fine, very fine, very finely bound. Beautiful, very - fine, very fine, thank you very much;)—and put it away in a - book-case. Unhappy Magyar volumes, never looked at out of their - own country, but by some curious student of philology like - Mezzofanti, and in their own country read by how few!” - -Now, in the first place, in the midst of this lady’s supercilious and -depreciatory strictures, it may safely be inferred, that Mezzofanti’s -Hungarian at least must have been unexceptionable, in order to draw -from one so evidently prejudiced, the admission that he “spoke it well -enough,” and that “his pronunciation was not bad.” Lest, however, any -doubt should be created by these grudging acknowledgments, I shall quote -the testimony of a Hungarian nobleman, Baron Glucky de Stenitzer, who -met the Cardinal in Rome some years later, in 1845. The Baron not only -testifies to the excellence of his Magyar, but affirms “that, in the -course of the interview, his Eminence spoke no less than four different -dialects of that tongue—the pure Magyar of Debreczeny, that of the -environs of Eperies, that of Pesth, and that of Transylvania!” - -In like manner, though Madame Paget takes upon her to say, that “the -Cardinal studies the words rather than the subject of what he reads,” -Baron Glucky found him “profoundly versed in the laws and constitution -of Hungary”; and when, in speaking of the extraordinary power enjoyed by -the Primate of Hungary, the Baron chanced to allude to his privilege of -coining money, his Eminence promptly reminded him that “this privilege -had been withdrawn by the Emperor Ferdinand, and even quoted the year of -the edict by which it was annulled!”[515] - -As regards the dashing style in which this lady sets aside the Cardinal’s -Magyar reading, which _only_ embraced “the works of Kisfaludi and -Czokonai, Pethe’s Natural History, and some other Hungarian books,” it -may be enough for the reader to know that, without reckoning the “other -Hungarian books,” the three works which she names thus slightingly, -comprise no less than _seven volumes_ of poetry and miscellaneous -literature. - -For what remains of her strictures upon the character of -Mezzofanti—strictures be it observed, which she has the hardihood to -offer, although her entire knowledge was derived from two interviews -of a few minutes, among a crowd of other visitors—her charge of love -of display, “empty word-knowledge,” “monkey-like” exhibition, and the -other pettinesses of “small vanity,” the best commentary that can be -offered is an account of the Cardinal published at this very period, by -one who knew him intimately during a residence of many months in Rome, -who was actually for a time his pupil or fellow student, and who, from -his position, was thoroughly conversant, not only with the sentiments -of the Cardinal’s friends and admirers, but with all the variety of -criticisms to which, according to the diversity of tastes and opinions, -his character and his gifts were subjected in the general society of the -literary circles of Rome—I mean the amiable and learned Guido Görres. -I may add that I myself was Herr Görres’s companion in one of his -interviews with the Cardinal. - - “If any one should imagine,” he writes, (in the - Historisch-Politische Blätter,[516] of which, conjointly with - Dr. Phillips, he was editor,) “that all the honours which - he has received have produced the slightest effect upon his - character or disposition, he is grievously mistaken. Under all - the insignia of the cardinalate, Mezzofanti is still the same - plain, simple, almost bashful, good-natured, conscientious, - indefatigable, active priest that he was, while a poor - professor, struggling by the exercise of his talents, in the - humblest form, to gain a livelihood for the relatives who were - dependant on his exertions. Although his head is stored with so - many languages, it has never, as so frequently occurs to the - learned, shown the least indication of lightness. As Prefect of - the House of Catechumens he is merely of course, charged with - the supervision of their instruction; but he still discharges - the duty in person, with all the exactness of a conscientious - schoolmaster. He visits the establishment almost every day, and - devotes a considerable part of his income to the support of its - inmates. - - In like manner he still, as Cardinal, maintains with the - Propaganda precisely the same relations which he held as - a simple prelate. Although he is not bound thereto by any - possible obligation, he devotes every day to the students of - that institution, in summer an hour, in winter an hour and - a half. He practises them and also himself in their several - languages, and zealously avails himself of the opportunity thus - afforded him, to exhort them to piety and to strengthen them in - the spirit of their calling. - - It is scarcely necessary to say that these youths regard their - disinterested friend and benefactor with the most devoted - affection.... - - When I spoke to him, one day, about his relations with the - pupils, he said to me, ‘It is not as a Cardinal I go there; it - is as a student—as a youth—(giovanetto.)’... - - He is familiar with all the European languages. And by this we - understand not merely the old classical tongues and the first - class modern ones; that is to say, the Greek and Latin, the - Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and English; his - knowledge embraces also the languages of the second class, viz. - the Dutch, the Polish, Bohemian or Czechish, and Servian, the - Hungarian, and Turkish; and even those of the third and fourth - class—the Irish, Welsh, Albanian, Wallachian, Bulgarian, and - Illyrian—are equally at his command. On my happening to mention - that I had once dabbled a little in Basque, he at once proposed - that we should set about it together. Even the Romani of the - Alps, and the Lettish, are not unfamiliar to him; nay, he has - made himself acquainted with Lappish, the language of the - wretched nomadic tribes of Lapland; although he told me he did - not know whether it should be called Lappish or Laplandish. - He is master of all the languages which are classed under the - Indo-German family—the Sanscrit and Persian, the Koordish, the - Armenian, and the Georgian; he is familiar with all the members - of the Semitic family, the Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Samaritan, - Chaldee, Sabaic, and even the Chinese, which he not only reads - but speaks. As regards Africa, he knows the Coptic, Ethiopic, - Abyssinian, Amharic, and Angolese.” - -Görres adds what I have already mentioned, as a characteristic mark of -their affectionate gratitude, that forty-three of his Propaganda scholars -waited upon him on occasion of his promotion to the Cardinalate, and -addressed to him a series of congratulations, each in his native dialect. -He fully bears out too, the assurance which has been repeated over and -over again by every one who had really enjoyed the intimacy of the -Cardinal, that, frequently as he came before the public in circumstances -which seemed to savour of display, and freely as he contributed to the -amusement of his visitors by exhibiting in conversation with them his -extraordinary acquirements, he was entirely free from that vanity to -which Madame Paget thinks proper to ascribe it all. - -“With all his high qualifications,” says the Rev. Ingraham Kip,[517] a -clergyman of the American episcopal church, “there is a modesty about -Cardinal Mezzofanti which shrinks from anything like praise.” “It would -be a cruel misconception of his character,” says Guido Görres, “to -imagine that, with all the admiration and all the wonder of which he -habitually saw himself the object, he yet prided himself in the least -upon this extraordinary gift. ‘Alas!’ he once said to a friend of mine, -a good simple priest, who, sharing in the universal curiosity to see -this wonderful celebrity, apologized to the Cardinal for his visit by -some compliment upon his European reputation:—‘alas! what will all these -languages avail me for the kingdom of heaven, since it is by works, not -words, that we must win our way thither!’” - -In truth Cardinal Mezzofanti possessed in an eminent degree the great -safeguard of christian humility—a habitual consciousness of what he -_was not_, rather than a self-complacent recollection of what he was. -He used to speak freely of his acquirement as one of little value, and -one especially for which he himself had little merit—a mere physical -endowment—a thing of instinct, and almost of routine. God, he said, had -gifted him with a good memory and a quick ear. There lay the secret of -his success—“What am I,” he would pleasantly say, “but an ill-bound -dictionary!” “He used to disparage his gifts to me,” says Cardinal -Wiseman; “and he once quoted a saying ascribed to Catherine de Medici, -who when told that Scaliger knew twenty languages, observed, ‘that is -twenty words for one idea! For my part I would rather have twenty ideas -for one word!’” On one occasion, after the publication of Cardinal -Wiseman’s _Horæ Syriacæ_, Mezzofanti said to him: “You have put your -knowledge of languages to some purpose. When I go, I shall not leave -a trace of what I know behind me!” And when his friend suggested that -it was not yet too late, he “shook his head and said it was”—which he -also repeated to Guido Görres, earnestly expressing his “regret that his -youth had fallen upon a time when languages were not studied from that -scientific point of view from which they are now regarded.” In a word, -the habitual tendency of his mind in reference to himself, and to his own -acquirements, was to depreciate them, and to dwell rather upon his own -deficiency and short-comings, than upon his success. - -Accordingly, while he was always ready to gratify the learned interest, -or even to amuse the lighter curiosity, with which his extraordinary -talent was regarded, there was as little thought of himself in the -performance, and as little idea of display, as though he were engaged in -an ordinary animated conversation. It was to him an exciting agreeable -exercise and nothing more. He engaged in it for its own sake. To him -it was as natural to talk in a foreign language as it would be to -another to sing, to relate a lively anecdote, or to take part in an -interesting discussion. To his humble and guileless mind the notion of -exhibition never presented itself. He retained to his latest hour and -through all the successive steps of his advancement, the simplicity and -lightheartedness of boyhood. It was impossible to spend half an hour in -his company without feeling the literal truth of what he himself said to -Görres regarding his relations to the pupils of the Propaganda;—that he -went among them not as a Cardinal, but as a school-boy, (_giovanetto_.) -What Madame Paget puts down to the account of “small vanity,” was in -reality the result of these almost boyish spirits, and of this simple -and unaffected good nature. He delighted in amusing and giving pleasure; -he was always ready to display his extraordinary gifts, partly for the -gratification of others, partly because it was to himself an innocent and -amusing relaxation: but, among the various impulses to which he yielded, -unquestionably the idea of display was the last that occurred to him as -a motive of action. I can say, from my own observation, that never in -the most distinguished circle, did he give himself to those linguistic -exercises with half the spirit which he evinced among his humble friends, -the obscure and almost nameless students of the Propaganda. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -[1841-1843.] - - -Although my own recollections of Cardinal Mezzofanti, in comparison with -those which have already been laid before the reader, are so few and -unimportant that I hesitated at one time as to the propriety of alluding -to them, I feel that I should be very forgetful of the kindness which I -experienced at all times at his hands, were I to withhold the impressions -of his character as well as of his gifts, which I received from my -intercourse with him. - -I saw Cardinal Mezzofanti for the first time, in July, 1841. He was then -in his sixty-seventh year: but, although his look and colour betrayed -the delicacy of his constitution, his carriage, as yet, exhibited little -indication of the feebleness of approaching age. He was below the middle -stature, and altogether of a diminutive, though light, and in youth most -active frame. His shoulders, it is true, were slightly rounded, and -his chest had an appearance of contraction; but his movements were yet -free, tolerably vigorous, and, although perhaps too hurried for dignity, -not ungraceful. His hair was plentifully dashed with gray; but, except -on the crown, where the baldness was but partially concealed by the -red _zucchetto_, (skull cap,) it was still thick and almost luxuriant. -More than one portrait of him has been published, and several of those -who saw him at different times have recorded their impressions of his -appearance: but I cannot say that any of these portraitures, whether of -pencil or of pen, conveys a full idea of the man. His countenance was -one of those which Madame Dudevant strangely, but yet significantly, -describes as “not a face, but a physiognomy.” Its character lay far less -in the features than in the expression. The former, taken separately, -were unattractive, and even insignificant. The proportions of the face -were far from regular. The complexion was dead and colourless, and these -defects were made still more remarkable by a small mole upon one cheek. -There was an occasional nervous winking of the eyelids, too, which -produced an air of weakness, and at times even of constraint; but there -was, nevertheless, a pervading expression of gentleness, simplicity, and -open-hearted candour, which carried off all these individual defects, -and which no portrait could adequately embody. Mr. Monckton Milnes -told me that the best likeness of the Cardinal he ever saw, was the -kneeling figure in Raffaelle’s noble picture, the Madonna di Foligno: -and undoubtedly, without any close affinity of lineament, it has a -strong general similitude of air and expression:—the same “open brow of -undisturbed humanity,” on which no passion had written a single line, and -which care had touched only to soften and spiritualize; the same quiet -smile, playful, yet subdued, humility blended with self-respect, modesty -unmarred by shyness or timidity;—above all the same - - Eyes beaming courtesy and mild regard— - -radiant with a sweetness which I have seldom seen equalled; singularly -soft and winning, and possessing that undefined power which is the -true beauty of an honest eye—a full and earnest, but not scrutinizing -look—deep, but tranquil, and placing you entirely at ease with yourself -by assuring you of its own perfect calmness and self-possession. But -the great charm of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s countenance was the look of -purity and innocence which it always wore. I have seldom seen a face -which retained in old age so much of the simple expression of youth, -I had almost said of childhood; although, with all this gaiety and -light-heartedness, there was a gentle gravity in his bearing which kept -it in perfect harmony with his years and character. He had acquired, -or he possessed from nature, the rare and difficult characteristic of -cheerful old age, to which Rochefoucault alludes when he says:—_Peu -de gens savent être vieux_. And thus he was equally at home among -his venerable peers of the Consistory, and in the youngest and most -light-hearted _camerata_ of the Propaganda. No old man ever illustrated -more clearly that - - The heart—the heart, is the heritage - Which keepeth the old man young! - -During a sojourn of some weeks in Rome, in the summer of 1841, I had the -honour of conversing with his eminence several times; at the Propaganda; -at the Roman Seminary; at a meeting of the Accademia della Religione -Cattolica; and more than once in his own apartments. In the course of one -of these interviews I heard him speak in several languages, to different -acquaintances whom he met, and with each of whom he conversed in his own -tongue—English, German, French, Spanish, Romaic, and Hungarian. With -myself his conversation was always in English. - -His English, as we have seen, has been variously judged. Herr Fleck -describes it as “only middling:” by others it is pronounced to be -undistinguishable from that of a native. The truth, as in all such cases, -lies between these extremes. - -All visitors, with the single exception of Herr Fleck, (certainly a very -questionable authority,) concur in admitting at least the perfect fluency -and strict grammatical accuracy of the Cardinal’s English conversation: -but some have hesitated as to its idiomatical propriety. M. Crawford, -ex-secretary of the Ionian Islands, told M. d’Abbadie[518] last year, -that Mezzofanti appeared to him to use some un-English constructions. To -Dean Milman, who was introduced to him several years ago by Mr. Francis -Hare, his English appeared “as if learned from books, grammatical, -rather than idiomatical.”[519] And Lady Morgan even determines the period -of English literature on which his English appeared to be modelled.[520] - -I cannot fully concur, nevertheless, in this opinion. My own impressions -of the Cardinal’s English, derived from many conversations on different -occasions, agree with those already quoted from Mr. Stewart Rose, Lady -Blessington, Mr. Harford, Bishop Baines, Cardinal Wiseman, and others, -who attest his perfect accuracy both of grammar and of idiom. Mr. -Badeley, the eminent lawyer, who saw him but one year before his death, -told me that “he spoke English in a perfectly easy and natural manner;” -and Mr. Kip, whose visit was about the same time, declares that, “in -the course of a long conversation which he held with the Cardinal, his -eminence did not use a single expression or word in any way that was not -strictly and idiomatically correct.” It is true that I should hardly -have been deceived as to his being a foreigner; but the slight, though -to my ear decisive, foreign characteristics of his English, were rather -of accent than of language; or, if they regarded language at all, it was -not that his expressions were unidiomatical, or that his vocabulary was -wanting in propriety, but merely that his sentences were occasionally -more formal—more like the periods of a regular oratorical composition -than is common in the freedom of every-day conversation. Nor did the -peculiarity of accent to which I refer amount to anything like absolute -impropriety. His pronunciation was most exact; his accentuation almost -unerring; and, although it certainly could be distinguished from that of -a born Englishman, the difference lay chiefly in its being more marked, -and in its precision being more evidently the result of effort and of -rule, than the unstudied and instinctive enunciation of a native speaking -his own language. If I were disposed to criticize it very strictly, -I might say (paradoxical as this may seem,) that, _compared with the -enunciation of a native_, it was almost _too correct to appear completely -natural_; and that its very correctness gave to it some slight tendency -to that extreme which the Italians themselves, in reference to their own -language in the mouth of a stranger, describe as _caricato_. But I have -no hesitation in saying, that I never met any foreigner, not resident in -England, whose English conversation could be preferred to Mezzofanti’s. -The foreign peculiarity was, in my judgment, so slight as to be barely -perceptible, and I have myself known more than one instance similar to -that already related from Cardinal Wiseman, in which Irish visitors -meeting the Cardinal for the first time, without knowing who he was, -took him _for an English dignitary_,[521] mistaking the slight trace of -foreign peculiarity which I have described for what is called in Ireland, -“the English accent.” - -Indeed with what care he had attended to the niceties of English -pronunciation—the great stumbling block of all foreign students of -the language—may be inferred from his familiarity with the peculiar -characteristics, even of the provincial dialects. It will be recollected -how he had amused Mr. Harford in 1817, by his specimens of the Yorkshire -and the _Zummer_setshire dialects, and how successfully he imitated -for Mr. Walsh the slang of a London cabman. And a still more amusing -example of the minuteness of his knowledge of these dialects has been -communicated to me by Rev. Mr. Grant of Lytham, brother of my friend the -Bishop of Southwark, to whose unfailing kindness I am indebted for this -and for many other most interesting particulars regarding the Cardinal. -Mr. Grant was presented to his eminence in the Spring of 1841, by the -Rev. Father Kelleher, an Irish Carmelite, of which order the Cardinal -was Protector. After some preliminaries the conversation turned upon the -English language. - - “‘You have many patois in the English language,’ said the - Cardinal. ‘For instance, the Lancashire dialect is very - different from that spoken by the Cockneys; [he used this - word;—] so much so, that some Londoners would find considerable - difficulty in understanding what a Lancashire man said. The - Cockneys always use _v_ instead of _w_, and _w_ instead of - _v_: so that they say ‘vine’ instead of ‘wine;’ [he gave - this example.] And then the Irish _brogue_, as it is called, - is another variety. I remember very distinctly having a - conversation with an Irish gentleman whom I met soon after - the peace, and he always mis-pronounced that word, calling it - ‘_pace_.’’ - - Here, F. Kelleher broke out into a horse-laugh, and, slapping - his hand upon his thigh, cried out, ‘Oh! excèllent! your - Eminence, excèllent!’ ‘Now, there you are wrong,’ said - Mezzofanti: ‘you ought not to say excèllent, but èxcellent.’ - - Then he went off into a disquisition on the word ‘great,’ - contending that, according to all analogy, it should be - pronounced like ‘gr_ee_t’—for that the diphthong _ea_ is so - pronounced in almost all, if not in _every_ word, in which it - occurs; and he instanced these words:—‘_eagle_, _meat_, _beat_, - _fear_,’ and some others. And he said Lord Chesterfield thought - the same, and considered it a vulgarism to pronounce it like - ‘grate.’ He next spoke about the Welsh language—but I really - quite forget what he said: I only remember that the impression - left on me was that he knew Welsh also.” - -As to the extent of his acquaintance with English literature, my own -personal knowledge is very limited. His only allusion to the subject -which I recollect, was a question which he put to me about the completion -of Moore’s History of Ireland. He expressed a strong feeling of regret -that we had not some Irish History, as learned, as impartial, and as -admirable in its style, as Lingard’s History of England. - -This is a point, however, on which we have the concurring testimony of -a number of English visitors, extending over a period of nearly thirty -years. The report of Mr. Harford in 1817, has been already quoted; Dr. -Cox of Southampton, spoke with high admiration of the Cardinal’s powers -as an English critic. Cardinal Wiseman assures me that “he often heard -him speaking on English style, and criticizing our writers with great -justness and accuracy. He certainly,” adds the Cardinal, “knew the -language and its literature far better than many an English gentleman.” -With Mr. Henry Grattan, then (in the year 1843,) member of Parliament -for Meath, he held a long conversation on the English language and -literature, especially its poets. - - “He spoke in English,” says Mr. Grattan, “and with great - rapidity. He talked of Milton, Pope, Gray, and Chaucer. Milton, - he observed, was our English Homer, but he was formed by the - study of Dante, and of the Prophets. On Gray’s Elegy, and on - Moore’s Melodies, he dwelt with great delight; of the latter he - repeated some passages, and admired them extremely. Chaucer, he - said, was taken from Boccaccio. He added that Milton, besides - his merit as an English poet, also wrote very pretty Italian - poetry. Talking of French literature, he said that, properly - speaking, the French have no poetry: ‘they have too much poetry - in their prose,’ said he, ‘and besides they want the heart that - is necessary for genuine poetry.’” - -But the most extraordinary example of Mezzofanti’s minute acquaintance -with English literature that I have heard, has been communicated to me by -Mr. Badeley, who found him quite familiar with an author so little read, -even by Englishmen, as Hudibras! - - “The Cardinal,” says Mr. Badeley, “received me most graciously; - his first question was, ‘Well, what language shall we talk?’ - I said, ‘Your eminence’s English is doubtless far better than - my Italian, and therefore we had better speak English.’ He - accordingly spoke English to me, in the most easy and natural - manner, and the conversation soon turned upon the English - language, and upon English literature; and his reference to - some of our principal authors, such as Milton, and others of - that class, shewed me that he was well acquainted with them. - We talked of translations, and I mentioned that the most - extraordinary translation I had ever seen was that of Hudibras - in French. He quite started with astonishment. ‘Hudibras in - French! impossible—it cannot be!’ I assured him that it was - so, and that I had the book. ‘But how is it possible,’ said - he, ‘to translate such a book? The rhymes, the wit, the jokes, - are the material points of the work—and it is impossible to - translate these—you cannot give _them_ in French!’ I told - him that, strange as it might seem, they were very admirably - preserved in the translation, the measure and versification - being the same, and the point and spirit of the original - maintained with the utmost fidelity. He seemed quite lost - in wonder, and almost incredulous—repeating several times, - ‘Hudibras in French! Hudibras in French! Most extraordinary—I - never heard of such a thing!’ During the rest of our interview, - he broke out occasionally with the same exclamations; and, as - I took leave, he again asked me about the book. I said that - it was rather scarce, as it had been published many years - ago;[522] but, that I had a copy, which I should be happy - to send him, if he would do me the honour of accepting it. - Unfortunately, on my return to England, before I could find - anybody to take charge of it for him, he died.” - -The very capacity to appreciate “the rhymes, the wit, the jokes,” of -Hudibras, in itself implies no common mastery of English. How few even -among learned Englishmen, could similarly appreciate Berni, Pulci, -Scarron, or Gresset, not to speak of the minor humourists of France or -Italy! - -In all this, however, I have been anticipating. My own conversations -with him, during my first visit to Rome, had but little reference to -languages or to any kindred subject. He questioned me chiefly about our -college, about the general condition of the Church in Ireland, and the -relations of religious parties in Ireland and England. My sojourn in Rome -occurred at a time of great religious excitement in the latter country. -The Tractarian Movement had reached its highest point of interest. The -secessions from the ranks of Anglicanism had already become so numerous -as to attract the attention of foreign churches. The strong assertion -of catholic principles brought out by the Hampden Controversy; the -steady advance in tone which the successive issues of the Tracts for -the Times, and still more of the “British Critic,” had exhibited; above -all, the almost complete identification in doctrine with the decrees of -the Council of Trent, avowed in the celebrated Tract 90; had created -everywhere a confident hope that many and extensive changes were imminent -in England: and there were not a few among the best informed foreign -Catholics, who were enthusiastic in their anticipation of the approaching -reconciliation of that country with the Church. It was almost exclusively -on this topic that Cardinal Mezzofanti spoke during my several interviews -with him, in 1841. He was already well informed as to the general -progress of the movement; but he enquired anxiously about individuals, -and especially about the authors of the Tracts for the Times. I was much -struck by the extent and the accuracy of his information on the subject, -as well as by the justice of his views. He was well acquainted with the -relations of the High and Low Church parties and with their history. - -“Rest assured,” he one day said to me, “that it is to individual -conversions you are to look in England. There will be no general -approximation of the Churches. This is not the first time these -principles have been popular for a while in the English Church. It was -the same at the time of Laud, and again in the time of the Catholic King, -James II. But no general movement followed. Many individuals became -Catholics; but the mass of the public still remained Protestant, and were -even more violent afterwards.” - -More than once during the many outbursts of fanaticism, which we have -since that time witnessed in England, I have called to mind this wise and -far-seeing prediction. - -But, although the Cardinal did not partake in the anticipation, which -some indulged, of a general movement of the English Church towards -Rome, his interest in the conversion of individuals was most anxious -and animated. It was his favourite subject of conversation with English -visitors at this period. Mr. Grattan has kindly permitted me to copy from -his journal an account of one of his interviews with the Cardinal, (a few -months after this date) which describes a half serious, half jocular, -attempt on the part of his Eminence to convert him from Protestantism. -Mrs. Grattan, who is a Catholic, was present during the interview. - -Having referred, in the course of a very interesting discussion on -English literature, which the reader has already seen, to Sir Thomas -More, as the earliest model of English prose, the Cardinal observed that -More was a truly great and good man. - - “‘He made an enemy of his King,’ said he, ‘but he made a - friend in his God.’ He then inquired of Mrs. Grattan, how it - happened that I had not changed my religion, and become a - Catholic—‘Now-a-days,’ said he, ‘there is no penalty and no - shame attached to the step; on the contrary, a great party in - England esteem you the more for it, and many learned men of - your own day have set you the example. You have, besides, the - venerable Bede; you have St. Patrick, too—both the greatest of - your countrymen in their age; you have King Alfred, and the - Edwards, all inviting you to the Church.’ He then approached - me in the most affectionate manner, took my hand and pressed - it, with a mixture of tenderness, drollery, and good nature. - ‘Now you _must_ change,’ he continued. ‘You will not be able to - escape it; your religion is but three hundred years old: the - Catholic dates from the beginning of Christianity. It is the - religion of Christ; its head on earth is the Pope—not, as yours - once was, an old woman, but the Pope!’ Here he became quite - animated, took Mrs. Grattan’s hand, and drew her over, holding - each of us by the hand; his manner became most fervent, his old - eye glistened, he looked up to Heaven, and exclaimed,—‘There - is the place to make a friend!’ Then turning to me, he said, - ‘Ireland is the garden of religion, and you must one day become - a flower in it.’” - -Mr. Grattan was deeply affected by this remarkable interview; and I may -add that I have known few Protestant visitors of the Cardinal, who did -not carry away the most favourable impressions regarding him. With all -the earnestness and fervour of his own religious convictions, he was -singularly tolerant and forbearing towards the followers of another -creed. “His gentleness and modesty,” writes Chevalier (now Baron) -Bunsen, “have often struck me. Once, some misrepresentations of Lady -Morgan in her book on Italy, being mentioned in his presence with strong -vituperation, he gently interposed. ‘Poor Lady Morgan!’ said he; ‘it is -not yet given to her to see truth.’” - -But although in my conversations with the Cardinal in 1841, his Eminence -confined himself entirely to English, yet on one occasion, at the close -of a meeting of the Accademia della Cattolica Religione, I heard him -converse, with every appearance of fluency and ease, in six different -languages with the various members of a group who collected around him; -in Romaic with Monsignor Missir, a Greek Archbishop; in German with -Guido Görres; in Magyar with a Hungarian artist who accompanied him; in -French with the Abbé La Croix, of the French church of St. Lewis; in -Spanish with a young Spanish Dominican; and in English with myself and my -companions. It was only however, during a second and more prolonged visit -to Rome in the first six months of 1843, that I was witness, in its full -reality, of the marvellous gift of which I had read and heard so much. - -I was fortunate enough to arrive on Rome in the vigil of the great -annual “Academy” of the Propaganda, which, from immemorial time has -been held during the octave of the Epiphany, the special festival of -that institution. It is hardly necessary, in speaking of an exercise -now so celebrated, to explain that this Academy consists of a series of -brief addresses and recitations, generally speaking in a metrical form, -delivered by the students in all the various languages which happen -at the time to be represented in the college. The subjects of these -compositions are commonly drawn from the festival itself, or from some -kindred theme; and the rapidity with which they succeed each other, -and the earnestness and vigour with which most of them are delivered, -create an impression which hardly any other conceivable exhibition -could produce. To the audience, of course, the greater number of these -recitations are an unknown sound; but the earnest manner of the speakers; -their foreign and unwonted intonations; the curious variety of feature -and expression which they present; and the unique character of the whole -proceeding—gave to the scene an interest entirely independent of the -recitations themselves considered as literary compositions. - -I never shall forget the impression which I received at my first entrance -at the _Aula Maxima_[523] on the evening of Sunday, January 8th, 1843. -At the farther end of the hall, on an elevated platform, the benches -of which rose above each other like the seats of a theatre, sat the -assembled pupils, arranged with some view to effect, in the order in -which they were to take part in the exercise. They seemed of all ages, -from the dawn of youth to mature manhood. It would be difficult to find -elsewhere collected together so many specimens of the minor varieties of -the human race. Gazing upon the eager faces crowded within that little -space, one might almost persuade himself that he had the whole world in -miniature before him, with all its motley tribes and races— - - Che comprender non può prosa ne vérso:— - Da India, dal Catai, Marrocco, e Spagna. - -Some of the varieties, and perhaps those which present the most marked -physiological contrasts with the rest, it is true, were wanting; but -all the more delicate shades of difference were clearly discernable; -the familiar lineaments of the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon race; all the -well-known European types of feature and complexion; the endless though -highly contrasted varieties of Asiatic and North African form—the classic -Indian, the stately Armenian, the calm and impassive Chaldee, the solemn -Syrian, the fiery Arab, the crafty Egyptian, the swarthy Abyssinian, the -stunted Birman, the stolid Chinese. And yet in all, far as they seemed -asunder in sentient and intelligent qualities, might be traced the common -interest of the occasion. Each appeared to feel that this—the feast of -the illumination of the Gentiles—was indeed his own peculiar festival. -All were lighted up by the excitement of the approaching exercise; and -it was impossible, looking upon them, and recalling the object which had -brought them all together from their distant homes, not to give glory to -God for this, the most glorious work of his church: in which “Parthians, -and Medes, and Elamites, and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and -Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts -of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, -Cretes and Arabians, speak the wonderful works of God;”—not, as of old, -in one tongue, but each in the tongue of his own people. - -Below the platform were arrayed the auditory. The front seats, -distinguished by their red drapery, were reserved for the Cardinals, of -whom several were present,—Franzoni, the Cardinal Prefect, with his pale -and passionless face—the very ideal of self-denying spirituality;—the -English Cardinal Acton, shrinking, as it seemed, from the notice which -his prominent position drew upon him—Castracane, Cardinal Penitentiary, -with the look of earnest and settled purpose which he always wore;—the -lively little Cardinal Massimo,[524] in animated and evidently pleasant -conversation, with two of the Professors, the lamented abate Palma -and abate Graziosi;—the classic head of Mai, every feature instinct -with intellectuality—every look bespeaking the scholar and the priest. -But it need scarcely be said, that on this evening, despite his scant -proportions and unimposing presence, every other claimant for notice was -forgotten in comparison with the true hero of such a scene—the great -polyglot Cardinal Mezzofanti. He was seated on the extreme right of the -front rank, and, as I entered, was conversing eagerly with a stately -looking Greek bishop, Monsignor Missir, whose towering stature and -singularly noble head contrasted strongly with the diminutive and almost -insignificant figure of the great linguist. - -Behind the Cardinals sate a number of foreign bishops, prelates, members -of religious orders, and other distinguished strangers, many of them -evidently orientals. The general assembly at the back included most -of the literary foreigners then in Rome, among whom were more than one -English clergyman, at that time the object of many an anxious prayer and -aspiration, of which we have since been permitted to witness the happy -fulfilment in their accession to the fold of the Church. - -The exercises of the evening, besides a Latin proem and an epilogue in -Italian, comprised forty-eight recitations on “the Illumination of the -Gentiles;” but, as these included several varieties of Latin and Italian -versification, the total number of languages represented in the Academy -was only forty-two. The Latin proem was delivered by a young Irish -student from the centre of the platform; the other speakers delivering -their parts from the places assigned to them by the programme. Most of -the languages were spoken by natives of the several countries where they -prevail; and, where no native representative could be found, a student -remarkable for his proficiency in the language was selected instead. -It thus happened that the Hebrew psalm was recited by a Dutchman; the -Spanish ode fell to a native of Stockholm; and the soft measures of the -Italian _terzine_ and anacreontics were committed to the tender mercies -of two youths from beyond the Tweed! - -With those of the odes which I was in some degree able to follow, the -Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and German, I was much pleased. They -appeared to me remarkably simple, elegant, and in good taste. But for the -rest, it would be idle to attempt to convey an idea of the strange effect -produced by the rapid succession of unknown sounds, uttered with every -diversity of intonation,[525] accompanied by every variety of gesture, -and running through every interval in the musical scale, from “syllables -which breathe of the soft south,” to the - - Harsh northern whistling, grunting, guttural, - That we’re obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all. - -Some of the recitations were singularly soft and harmonious; some -came, even upon an uninstructed ear, with a force and dignity, almost -independent of the sense which they conveyed; some on the contrary, -especially when taken in connexion with the gestures and intonation of -the reciter, were indescribably ludicrous. Among the former was the -Syriac ode, recited by Joseph Churi, a youth since known in English -literature. Among the latter, the most curious were a Chinese Eclogue, -and a Peguan Dialogue. The speakers in both cases were natives, and I -was assured by a gentleman who was present at the exercise, and who -had visited China more than once, that their recitation was a perfect -reproduction of the tone and manner of the native theatre of China. - - * * * * * - -Throughout the entire proceedings Cardinal Mezzofanti was a most -attentive, and evidently an anxious listener. Every one of the young -aspirants to public favour was personally and familiarly known to -him. Many of the pieces, moreover, upon these occasions, were his own -composition, or at least revised by him; and thus, besides his paternal -anxiety for the success of his young friends, he generally had somewhat -of the interest of an author in the literary part of the performance. It -was plain, too, that, for the young speakers themselves, his Eminence -was, in his turn, the principal object of consideration; and it was -amusing to observe, in the case of one of the oriental recitations, -that the speaker almost appeared to forget the presence of the general -auditory, and to address himself entirely to the spot where Cardinal -Mezzofanti sate. - -At the close of the exercises, as soon as the interesting assemblage -of the platform broke up, a motley group was speedily formed around -the good-natured Cardinal, to hear his criticisms, or to receive his -congratulations on the performance; and I then was witness for the first -time of what I saw on more than one subsequent occasion—the almost -inconceivable versatility of his wonderful faculty, and his power of -flying from language to language with the rapidity of thought itself, -as he was addressed in each in succession;—hardly ever hesitating, or -ever confounding a word or interchanging a construction. Most of the -members of the polyglot group which thus crowded around him and plied -him with this linguistic fusilade, were of course unknown to me; but I -particularly noticed among the busiest of the questioners, the Chinese -youths who had taken part in their native eclogue, and a strange, -mercurial, monkey-like, but evidently most intelligent lad, whom I -afterwards recognized as one of the speakers in the Peguan Dialogue.[526] -I was gratified, too, to see a gap which I had observed in the programme -of the exercises—the omission of the Russian language—supplied by his -Eminence in this curious after-performance. A Russian gentleman, who -had sate near me during the evening, now joined the group assembled -around the Cardinal, and good-humouredly complained of the oversight. -His Eminence, without a moment’s thought, replied to him in Russian;—in -which language a lengthened conversation ensued between them, with every -evidence of ease and fluency on the part of the Cardinal. Although I have -never since learned the name of this traveller, I noted the circumstance -with peculiar interest at the time, because he had already established -a claim upon my remembrance, by selecting (without knowing me as an -Irishman,) among all the recitations of the evening, as especially -harmonious and expressive in its sounds, the _Irish Ode_; which had been -delivered with great character and effect by a young student of the -County Mayo. - -During my first visit to Rome, I had heard a great deal of this curious -power of maintaining a conversation simultaneously with several -individuals, and in many different languages; but I was far from being -prepared for an exhibition of it so wonderful as that which I have -witnessed. I cannot, at this distance of time, say what was the exact -number of the group which stood around him, nor can I assert that they -all spoke different languages; but making every deduction, the number -of speakers cannot have been less than ten or twelve; and I do not -think that he once hesitated for a sentence or even for a word! Many -very wonderful examples of the power of dividing the attention between -different objects have been recorded. Julius Cæsar, if we believe Pliny, -was able to listen with his ears, read with his eyes, write with his -pen, and dictate with his lips, at the same time. Mordaunt, Earl of -Peterborough, often dictated to six or seven secretaries simultaneously. -Walter Scott, when engaged in his Life of Napoleon, used to dictate -fluently to his amanuensis, while he was, at the same time, taking down -and reading books, consulting papers, and comparing authorities on the -difficult points of the history which were to follow. The wonderful -powers of the same kind possessed by Phillidor, the chess-player, too, -are well known.[527] But I cannot think that there is any example of -the faculty of mental self-multiplication, if it can be thus called, -upon record, so wonderful as that exhibited by Mezzofanti in these, so -to speak, linguistic tournaments, in which he held the lists against all -opponents, not successively, but at once. Guido Görres, describing the -rapidity of his transitions from one language to another, compares it -to “a bird flitting from spray to spray.” The learned Armenian, Father -Arsenius, speaking of the perfect distinctness of his use of each, and -of the entire absence of confusion or intermixture, says his change from -language to language “was like passing from one room into another.” -“Mezzofanti himself told me,” writes Cardinal Wiseman, “that whenever he -began to speak in one tongue, or turned into it from another, he seemed -to forget all other languages except that one. He has illustrated to me -the difficulty he had to encounter in these transitions, by taking a -common word, such as ‘bread,’ and giving it in several cognate languages, -as Russian, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, &c., the differences being very -slight, and difficult to remember. Yet he never made the least mistake in -any of them.” - -When Rev. John Strain, now of St. Andrew’s, Dumfries, who assures me -that, while he was in the Propaganda, he often heard Mezzofanti speak -seven or eight languages in the course of half an hour, asked him how it -was that he never jumbled or confused them. Mezzofanti laughingly asked -in his turn. - -“Have you ever _tried on a pair of green spectacles_?” - -“Yes,” replied his companion. - -“Well,” said Mezzofanti, “while you wore these spectacles everything -was green to your eyes. It is precisely so with me. While I am speaking -any language, for instance, Russian, _I put on my Russian spectacles_, -and for the time, _they colour everything Russian_. I see all my ideas -in that language alone. If I pass to another language, _I have only to -change the spectacles, and it is the same for that language also_!” - -This amusing illustration perfectly describes the phenomenon so far -as it fell under observation; but, so far as I am aware, no one has -attempted to analyse the mental operation by which these astounding -external effects were produced. The faculty, whatever it was, may have -been improved and sharpened by exercise; but there is no part of the -extraordinary gift of this great linguist so clearly exceptional, and so -unprecedented in the history of the faculty of language. - -A few weeks after the Propaganda academy, I met his Eminence at the -levee of the newly created Cardinal Cadolini, ex-Secretary of the Sacred -Congregation. Recognizing me at once as “the Maynooth Professor,” he -addressed me laughingly in Irish: _Cion̄us tá tú_ “How are you?” It has -repeatedly been stated that he knew Irish; and that language is actually -enumerated in more than one published list of the languages which he -spoke. Had it not been for his own candour on the occasion in question, I -myself should have carried away the same impression from our interview. -But on my declaring my inability to enter into an Irish conversation, -he at once confessed that, had I been able to go farther, I should have -found himself at fault; as, although he knew so much as enabled him to -initiate a conversation, and to make his way through a book, he had not -formally studied the Irish language. Nevertheless that he was acquainted -with its general characteristics, and the leading principles of its -inflections and grammatical structure, its analogies with Gælic, as well -as their leading points of difference, and its general relations with -the common Celtic family, I was enabled to ascertain in a subsequent -interview, in which I was accompanied by an accomplished Irish scholar, -the late Rev. Dr. Murphy of Kinsale. Dr. Murphy was much struck with the -accuracy and soundness of his views. - -One of the observations which he made during this interview was -afterwards the occasion of no little amusement to us. During an audience -which Dr. Murphy, accompanied by Dr. Cullen, then Rector of the Irish -College, had had a few days before with the Pope, Gregory XVI., a new -work of Sir William Betham, _Etruria Celtica_—in which an attempt is made -to establish the identity of the Irish and Etrurian languages, and in -which the celebrated Eugubian inscriptions are explained as Irish,—had -been presented to the Pope. His holiness, who was much interested in -Etruscan antiquities, on hearing from Dr. Cullen the nature and object -of the work, had expressed great amusement at this latest discovery in a -matter which had already been explained in at least a dozen different and -conflicting ways. We mentioned this to the Cardinal. - -“His Holiness is perfectly right,”he replied. “There is no possible -meaning which could not be taken out of it, if you only grant the licence -which these antiquarians claim. The Eugubian tables, in different -systems,[528] have been explained by some as a calendar of Festivals; by -others as a code of laws; by others as a system of agricultural precepts. -It is no wonder that your Irish author explains them as Irish. But I -will venture to say that, if you only take any common Italian or Latin -sentence, and apply to it the same system of interpretation, you may -explain it as Irish, and find it make excellent sense.” - -On leaving his Eminence, we resolved to put his suggestion to the test. -We took the first sentence in the first of F. Segneri’s sermons which -opened in the volume. I have since tried, but in vain, to find the -passage: and I only recollect about it, that it related to the ardent -desire of our Divine Lord, that the light of his gospel should shine -among men. Dr. Murphy, without exceeding in the slightest degree the -license which Sir W. Betham allows himself, in dealing with the Eugubian -inscriptions, converted this Italian sentence into an Irish one, which, -to our infinite amusement, literally rendered, ran as follows: “In -sailing into the harbour, they came to the place of his habitation; and -_they took a vast quantity of large specked trouts, by the great virtue -of white Irish fishing-rods_!” - -The Cardinal repeated to Dr. Murphy during this visit what he had before -said, that he did not pretend to speak Irish, but added that, if he had a -little practice, he would easily acquire it. I had already heard the same -from the Archbishop of Tuam, who knew him on his first arrival in Rome. I -have since been told that, in the following winter, he formally addressed -himself to the study, with the assistance of the late Rev. Dr. Lyons of -Erris, who was then in Rome; but I have no means of testing the truth of -the statement, or of ascertaining the extent of his progress. - -This discussion regarding the Irish language naturally suggested a -similar inquiry as to the Cardinal’s knowledge of the kindred Gælic. -The Rev. John Strain, who knew him in 1832, when he first came to Rome, -informs me that in that year he had no knowledge whatever of the Gælic -language. He got a friend of Mr. Strain’s to repeat some sentences in it -for him, and expressed a wish to procure some books for the purpose of -learning it. I find from the catalogue of his library that he did procure -a few Gælic books: and Rev. John Gray of Glasgow, who was a student of -the Propaganda till the year 1841, informs me that he at that time knew -the language, but spoke it very imperfectly.[529] - -An American gentleman whom I met one day in the Cardinal’s ante-chamber, -showed me an impromptu English couplet which his eminence had just -written for him, on his asking for some memorial of their interview. I -am not able now to recall this distich to memory; but it is only one of -numberless similar tokens which the Cardinal presented to his visitors -and friends. One of his favourite amusements consisted in improvising -little scraps of verse in various languages, for the most part embodying -some pious or moral sentiment, which he flung off with the rapidity of -thought, and without the slightest effort. Few of those which I have -seen, indeed, can be said to exhibit much poetical genius. There is -but little trace of imagination in them, and the sentiments, though -excellent, are generally commonplace enough. But while, considered as a -test of command over the languages in which they are written, even the -most worthless of them cannot be regarded as insignificant, there are -many of them which are very prettily turned, and display no common power -of versification. - -It is difficult to recover scraps like these, fragmentary of their own -nature, and scattered over every country of the earth. I have sought in -vain for oriental specimens, although the Cardinal distributed numbers -of them to the students of the Propaganda at their leaving college. In -a sheet of autographs prefixed to this volume will be found verses in -sixteen different languages. A few others are given in the appendix. -I shall jot down here two or three specimens of his classical epigrams -which have fallen in my way. - -Most of them arose out of the very circumstance of his being asked for -such a token of remembrance. - -For instance, on one occasion when the request was addressed to him _in -Greek_, he wrote: - - Ἑλλάδος ἠρώτας ἐμε ῥήμασιν. Ἑλλάδος ἁυδήν - Ἐκχὲω, οὐδ’ ἄλλην χρή ἀπαμειβόμενον. - Οὐ φθόγγος φθόγγοισιν ἀμείβεται, εί μὴ ὁμοῖος, - Ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ συμφώνων γίγνεται ἁρμονίη. - Νῦν δέ τίνα Γνώμην δώσω ἀιτοῦντι; τιν ἄλλην - Ἡ—— ’Θεὸν ἐν πάσῃ, δὲι φιλέειν κραδίῃ.’ - -So again, when a visitor begged him to write _his name_ in an album, he -gave, instead, this pretty couplet. - - Pauca dedi—nomen. Tu sane pauca petisti, - Assiduus sed ego te rogo plura—preces. - -In answer to a similar request at another time, he replied— - - Accipe quod poscis—nomen. Scribatur ut ipsum - In cœlo, ad Dominum tu bone funde preces. - -On being presented on New Year’s day with a pair of spectacles by his -friend, Dr. Peter Trombetti, of Bologna, he wrote:— - - Deficit heu acies oculorum! instante senecta; - Deficit;—at comis lumina tu duplicas. - Lumen utrumque mihi argento dum nocte coruscat - Haud mihi qui dederit decidet ex animo. - -A similar present at the next New Year elicited the following:— - - Cum vix sufficiunt oculi mihi nocte legenti, - Ecce bonus rursum lumina tu geminas. - Prospera ut eveniant multis volventibus annis, - Cuncta tibi, par est me geminare preces. - -To another of his Bolognese friends, the Canonico Tartaglia, now rector -of the Pontifical seminary, who begged some memorial, he sent the -following pretty epigram:— - - Sæpe ego versiculos heic dicto, stans pede in uno; - Carmina sed fingo nulla linenda cedro. - Qualiacumque cano velox heu dissipat aura! - Unum de innumeris hoc mihi vix superest, - Mittimus hoc unum interea. Exiguum accipe donum - Eternæ veteris pignus amicitiæ. - -Any one who has ever tried to turn a verse in any foreign tongue, will -agree with me in regarding the rapidity with which these trifles were -written, as one of the most curious evidences of the writer’s mastery -over the many languages in which he is known to have indulged this fancy. -The really pretty Dutch verses—verses as graceful in sentiment as they -are elegant in language—in reply to Dr. Wap’s address, were penned in Dr. -Wap’s presence and with great rapidity. Father Legrelle’s Flemish verses -were dashed off with equal quickness. The American of whom I spoke told -me that the Cardinal wrote almost without a moment’s thought. It was the -same for the lady mentioned by Dr. Wap, although the subject of these -verses arose during the interview; and even the Persian stanza which he -wrote for Dr. Tholuck, and which “contained several pretty ἐνθυμήσεις,” -cost him only about half an hour! How many of those who consider -themselves most perfect in French, Italian, or German, have ever ventured -even upon a single line of poetry in any of them? - -I must not omit another circumstance which I myself observed, and which -struck me forcibly as illustrating the singular nicety of his ear, and -still more the completeness with which he threw himself into all the -details of every language which he cultivated;—I mean his manner and -accent in pronouncing Latin in conversation with natives of different -countries. One day I was speaking to him in company with Guido Görres, -when he had occasion to quote to me Horace’s line. - - Si paulum a summo decessit, vergit ad imum:— - -which he pronounced quite as I should have pronounced it, and without -any of the peculiarities of Italian pronunciation. He turned at once to -Görres, and added— - -“Or, as you would say: - - Si _pow_lum a _soomm_o _det_sessit, ver_ghit_ ad imum,” - -introducing into it every single characteristic of the German manner -of pronouncing the Latin language. I have heard the same from other -foreigners. It was amusing, too, to observe that he had taken the -trouble to note and to acquire the peculiar expletive or interjectional -sounds, with which, as it is well known, natives of different countries -unconsciously interlard their conversation, and the absence or misuse -of which will sometimes serve to discover the foreign origin of one who -seems to speak a language with every refinement of correctness.[530] The -Englishman’s “ah!” the Frenchman’s “oh!” the whistling interjection of -the Neapolitan, the grunt of the Turk, the Spaniard’s nasal twang—were -all at his command. - -My brief and casual intercourse with the Cardinal would not entitle me to -speak of his character and disposition, were it not that my impressions -are but an echo of all that has been said and written before me, of his -cheerful courtesy, his open-hearted frankness, and his unaffected good -nature. To all his visitors of whatever degree, he was the same—gay, -amiable, and unreserved. With him humility was an instinct. It seemed -as though he never thought of himself, or of any claim of his to -consideration. He would hardly permit the simple mark of respect—the -kissing of the ring which ordinarily accompanies the salutation of one of -high ecclesiastical dignity in Italy; and his demeanour was so entirely -devoid of assumption of superiority that the humblest visitor was at once -made to feel at home in his company. - -His conversation was uniformly gay and cheerful, and no man entered -more heartily into the spirit of any little pleasantry which might -arise. On one occasion, upon a melting summer day, as he was shewing the -magnificent Giulio Clovio Dante, in the Vatican library, to a well-known -London clergyman, the latter, in his delight at one of the beautiful -miniatures by which it is illustrated—a moonlight scene—was in the act of -pointing out _with his moist finger_ some particular beauty which struck -him, when Mezzofanti, horror-struck at the danger, caught his arm. - -“Softly, my dear Doctor,” he playfully interposed: “these things may be -looked at with the eyes, but not with the fingers.” - -He delighted, too, in puns, and was equally ready in all languages. He -laughed heartily at Cardinal Rivarola’s Italian pun against himself, -about the _orecchini_;[531] and one day, while he was speaking German -with Guido Görres, the latter having made some allusion to his -Eminence’s increasing gray hairs, and spoken of him as a _weiss-haar_ -(white-haired,) - -“Ach!” he replied with a gentle smile, not untinged with -melancholy;—“ach! gäbe Gott dass ich, wie _weiss-haar_, so auch _weiser_ -geworden wäre.”[532] - -It will easily be inferred from this, that, among etymologies, he was -especially attracted by those which involved a play upon words:—if they -admitted a pun so much the better. He was much amused by Herr Fleck’s -suggestion, that the name Mezzofanti, was derived from Ἑν μέσῳ φαίνεται; -and Cardinal Wiseman told me that once, after learnedly canvassing the -various etymologies suggested for Felsina, the ancient name of his -native city, Bologna, he laughingly brought the discussion to a close by -suggesting that probably it was _Fé l’asina_, (the ass made it.) - -Probably it was to this taste he was indebted for that familiarity with -Hudibras—a writer, otherwise so unattractive to a foreigner—which took -Mr. Badeley by surprise. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -[1843-1849.] - - -In the midst of the honours and occupations of his new dignity, Cardinal -Mezzofanti sustained a severe affliction in the death of his favourite -nephew, Monsignor Minarelli—the _Giuseppino_ (Joe) so often commemorated -in his early correspondence. This amiable and learned ecclesiastic -instead of accompanying his uncle to Rome, where the most brilliant -prospects were open to him, preferred to pursue the quiet and useful -career of university life, in which he had hitherto been associated with -him in Bologna. By successive steps, he had risen to the Rectorate of -the University; and in recognition of his services to that institution, -the honorary dignity of a prelate of the first class in the Roman -Court—popularly styled _del mantelletto_—had been conferred on him by the -Pope. The Cardinal, as is plain from his own letters and those of his -Bologna friends, was warmly attached to him. While he lived in Bologna -Giuseppe was his friend and companion, rather than his pupil; and the -young man’s early death was felt the more deeply by him, from the -congeniality of tastes and studies which had always subsisted between -them. - -The Cardinal’s sister, Teresa, (mother of the deceased prelate,) although -she was ten years his senior, was still living in their old home at -Bologna, and he continued to correspond with her up to the time of his -death. His letters to her are all exceedingly simple and unaffected—so -entirely of a domestic character, and without public interest, that, if -I translate one of them here—the latest which has come into my hands—it -is merely as a specimen of the warmth and tenderness, as well as deeply -religious character of the Cardinal’s affection for his sister and for -her children. - - “We are on the eve of your Saint’s Day, my dearest sister. I am - to say Mass on that day in the Church of the Servites; but I - shall offer it for you, praying with all the fervor of my heart - that God may long preserve you in health, and console you under - your affliction, and that your holy patroness may protect you, - and obtain for you all the graces of which you stand in need. - I wish to mark the occasion by a little token of my affection, - and I have already written to Gesnalde to transmit it to you. - It is a mere trifle, but I know that you will only look, as - you have always done in past years, to the person it comes - from, and that you will give it value by accepting it, and by - corresponding with me in recommending me, as I do you, to the - special favour of the Almighty. As being my elder sister, you - used always, when we were children, to pray for your little - brother; and I know that you still continue the practice; I am - most grateful for it, and I try to make you every return. - - Your sons, and my niece Anna unite with me in their - affectionate wishes, and beg your blessing. May God bestow his - most abundant blessings on you!” - -The history of the later years of the Cardinal’s life presents scarcely -any incidents of any special interest. Few of the reports of the -foreigners who met him at this period, differ in any material particulars -from those which we have already seen. I shall content myself, therefore, -with two or three of them, which may be taken as specimens of the entire, -but which are selected also with a view to serve in guiding the reader -in his estimate, not merely of the general attainments of the Cardinal -as a linguist, but of his proficiency in the languages of the writers -themselves, and in other languages, not specially commemorated hitherto. - -We have already passingly alluded to the account of Mezzofanti given -by the Rev. Ingraham Kip, a clergyman of the Episcopalian Church in -America: but the details into which this gentleman enters, regarding -his Eminence’s knowledge of the English language and literature, are so -important, that it would be unpardonable to pass them by. - - “He is a small lively looking man,” says Mr. Kip, “apparently - over seventy. He speaks English with a slight foreign - accent—yet remarkably correct. Indeed, I never before met with - a foreigner who could talk for ten minutes without using some - word with a shade of meaning not exactly right; yet, in the - _long conversation I had with the Cardinal, I detected nothing - like this. He did not use a single expression or word in any - way which was not strictly and idiomatically correct._ He - converses, too, without the slightest hesitation, never being - at the least loss for the proper phrase. - - In talking about him some time before to an ecclesiastic, I - quoted Lady Blessington’s remark, ‘that she did not believe he - had made much progress in the literature of these forty-two - languages; but was rather like a man who spent his time in - manufacturing keys to palaces which he had not time to enter;’ - and I inquired whether this was true. ‘Try him,’ said he, - laughing; and, having now the opportunity, I endeavoured to do - so. I led him, therefore, to talk of Lord Byron and his works, - and then of English literature generally. He gave me, in the - course of his conversation, quite a discussion on the subject - which was the golden period of the English language; and of - course fixed on the days of Addison. He drew a comparison - between the characteristics of the French, Italian, and Spanish - languages; spoke of Lockhart’s translation from the Spanish, - and incidentally referred to various other English writers. He - then went on to speak of American literature, and paid high - compliments to the pure style of some of our best writers. He - expressed an opinion that, with many, it had been evidently - formed by a careful study of the old authors—those ‘wells of - English undefiled’—and, that within the last fifty years we had - imported fewer foreign words than had been done in England. He - spoke very warmly of the works of Mr. Fennimore Cooper, whose - name, by the way, is better known on the continent than that of - any other American author.” - -As Mr. Kip, unfortunately, was not acquainted with any of the Indian -languages of North America, he was unable to test the extent of the -Cardinal’s attainments in these languages. His account, nevertheless, is -not without interest. - - “In referring to our Indian languages, he remarked, that the - only one with which he was well acquainted was the Algonquin, - although he knew something of the Chippewa and Delaware; and - asked whether I understood Algonquin; I instantly disowned - any knowledge of the literature of that respectable tribe of - Savages; for I was afraid the next thing would be a proposal - that we should continue the conversation in their mellifluous - tongue. He learned it from an Algonquin missionary, who - returned to Rome, and lived just long enough to enable the - Cardinal to begin this study. He had read the works of Mr. - Du Ponceau[533] of Philadelphia, on the subject of Indian - languages, and spoke very highly of them.” - -It is right to add Mr. Kip’s conclusions from the entire interview, and -his impressions regarding the natural and acquired powers of the great -linguist. - - “And yet,” he concludes, “_all this conversation by no - means satisfied me_ of the depth of the Cardinal’s literary - acquirements. There was nothing said which gave evidence of - more than a superficial acquaintance with English literature; - the kind of knowledge which passes current in society, and - which is necessarily picked up by one who meets so often - with cultivated people of each country. His acquirements in - words are certainly wonderful; but I could not help asking - myself their use. I have never yet heard of their being of - any practical benefit to the world during the long life of - their possessor. He has never displayed anything philosophical - in his character of mind; none of that power of combination - which enables Schlegel to excel in all questions of philology, - and gives him a talent for discriminating and a power of - handling the resources of a language which have never been - surpassed.”[534] - -Perhaps the reader will be disposed to regard Mr. Kip’s criticism as -somewhat _exigeant_ in its character; and to think that, even taking his -own report of his conversation with the Cardinal, and of the number and -variety of the English and American writers, with whom, and with whose -peculiar characteristics, he was acquainted—some of them, moreover—as -for example, Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads—a translation from a foreign -language—most unlikely to attract a “superficial” foreigner, he was a -little unreasonable in refusing “to be satisfied with the depth of the -Cardinal’s literary acquirements.” For my part, I cannot help thinking -this interview, even as recorded by Mr. Kip, one of the most astonishing -incidents in the entire history of this extraordinary man. And I may add -to what is here stated of his familiarity with the principal English -authors, native and American, that, as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. -Gray, of Glasgow, the Cardinal was also intimately acquainted with the -national literature of Scotland; that he had read many of the works of -Walter Scott and Burns; and that he understood and was able to enjoy the -Lowland Scottish dialect, which is one of the great charms of both. - -Mr. Kip’s impressions as to the Cardinal’s want of skill in the science -of language and of its philosophical bearing on history and ethnology, -must be admitted to have more foundation, and are shared by several of -the scholars who visited him, especially those who cultivated ethnology -as a particular study. I have reserved for this place a short notice of -the Cardinal, which has been communicated to me by Baron Bunsen, and -which, while it does ample justice to Mezzofanti’s merits as a linguist, -puts a very low estimate on his accomplishments as a philologer, and a -critic. The reader will gather from much of what has been already said, -that I am far from adopting this estimate in several of its particulars; -but Baron Bunsen’s opinion upon any question of scholarship or criticism -is too important to be overlooked. - - “I saw him first as Abate and Librarian at Bologna, in 1828, - when travelling through Italy, with the Crown Prince (now - King) of Prussia. When he came to Rome as head librarian to - the Vatican, I have frequently had the pleasure of seeing - him in my house, and in the Vatican. He was always amiable, - humane, courteous, and spoke with equal fluency the different - languages of Europe. His gentleness and modesty have often - struck me. Once, when some misrepresentations of Lady Morgan - in her book on Italy, were mentioned before him with very - strong vituperation, ‘Poor Lady Morgan!’ he said, ‘it is not - yet given to her to see truth.’ When complimented by an English - lady upon his miraculous facility in acquiring languages, with - the additional observation that Charles the Fifth had said, - ‘as many languages as a man knows, so many times he is a man,’ - he replied, ‘Well, that ought rather to humble us; for it is - essential to man to err, and therefore, such a man is the more - liable to error, if Charles the Fifth’s observation is true.’ - - On the other side, I must confess that I was always struck by - the observation of an Italian who answered to the question: - ‘Non è miracoloso di vedere un uomo parlare quaranta due - lingue?’ replied, ‘Si, senza dubbio; ma più miracoloso ancora - è di sentire che questo uomo in quaranta due lingue non dice - _niente_.’ A giant as a linguist, Mezzofanti certainly was a - child as a philologer and philological critic. - - He delighted in etymologies, and sometimes he mentioned new - and striking ones, particularly as to the Romanic languages - and their dialects. But he could not draw any philosophical - or historical consequences from that circumstance, beyond the - first self-evident elements. He had no idea of philosophical - grammar. I have once seen his attempt at decyphering a Greek - inscription, and never was there such a failure. Nor has he - left or published anything worth notice. - - I explain this by his ignorance of all _realities_. He - remembered words and their sounds and significations almost - instinctively; but he lived upon reminiscences: he never had - an original thought. I understood from one of his learned - colleagues, (a Roman Prelate,) that it was the same with his - theology; there was no acuteness in his divinity, although he - knew well St. Thomas and other scholastics. - - As to Biblical Criticism, he had no idea of it. His knowledge - of Greek criticism too was very shallow. - - In short, his linguistic talent was that of seizing sounds and - accents, and the whole (so to say) idiom of a language, and - reproducing them by a wonderful, but equally special, memory. - - I do not think he had ever his equal in this respect. - - But the cultivation of this power had absorbed all the rest. - - Let it, however, never be forgotten that he was, according to - all I have heard from him, a charitable, kind Christian, devout - but not intolerant, and that his habitual meekness was not a - cloak, but a real Christian habit and virtue. Honour be to his - memory.” - -There is a part of this criticism which is unquestionably just: but -there are also several of the views from which I am bound to dissent -most strongly, and to which I shall have occasion to revert hereafter. -Meanwhile, that the Cardinal paid more attention to these inquiries than -Mr. Kip and M. Bunsen suppose, will appear from the testimony of the Abbé -Gaume, author of the interesting work, “_Les Trois Rome_.” - - “I had often met the illustrious philologer,” says M. Gaume, - “at the Propaganda, where he used to come to spend the - afternoon. Kind, affable, modest, he mixed with the students, - and spoke by turns Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Chinese, and - twenty other languages, with a facility almost prodigious. - When I entered, I found him studying Bas-Breton, and I have - no doubt that in a short time he will be able to exhibit it - to the inhabitants of Vannes themselves. His eminence assured - me of two points. The first is the fundamental unity of all - languages. This unity is observable especially in the parts of - speech, which are the same or nearly so in all languages. The - second is the trinity of dialects in the primitive language;—a - trinity corresponding with the three races of mankind. The - Cardinal has satisfied himself that there are but three races - sprung from one common stock, as there are but three languages - or principal dialects of one primitive language;—the Japhetic - language and race; the Semitic language and race; and the - Chamitic language and race. Thus the unity of the human kind - and the trinity of races, which are established by all the - monuments of history, are found also to be supported by the - authority of the most extraordinary philologer that has even - been known. - - The Cardinal’s testimony is the more important inasmuch as - his linguistic acquirements are not confined to a superficial - knowledge. Of the many languages which he possesses, there is - not one in which he is not familiar with the every day words, - common sayings, adages, and all that difficult nomenclature - which constitutes the popular part of a language. One day - he asked one of our friends to what province of France he - belonged. ‘To Burgundy;’ replied my friend. ‘Oh!’ said - Mezzofanti, ‘you have two Burgundian dialects; which of them do - you speak?’ ‘I know,’ replied our friend, ‘the patois of Lower - Burgundy.’ Whereupon the Cardinal began to talk to him in Lower - Burgundian, with a fluency which the vine-dressers of Nantes or - Beaune might envy.”[535] - -This curious familiarity with provincial _patois_, described by the -Abbé Gaume, extended to the other provincial dialects of France. M. -Manavit found him not only acquainted with the Tolosan dialect, but -even not unread in its local literature. His library contains books in -the dialects of Lorraine, Bearne, Franche Comté, and Dauphiné. I have -already mentioned his speaking Provençal with Madame de Chaussegros; -and Dr. Grant, bishop of Southwark, told me that he was able, solely by -the accent of the Abbé Carbry, to determine the precise place of his -nativity, Montauban. - -Another language regarding which, although it has more than once been -alluded to, few testimonies have as yet been brought forward, is Spanish. -I shall content myself, nevertheless, with the evidence of a single -Spaniard, which, brief as it is, leaves nothing to be desired. “I can -assert of his Eminence,” writes Father Diego Burrueco, a Trinitarian -of Zamora, who knew the Cardinal during many of these years, “that he -spoke our Spanish like a native of Castile. He could converse in the -Andalusian dialect with Andalusians; he was able, also, to distinguish -the Catalonian dialect from that of Valencia, and both from that of the -Island of Majorca.”[536] We have already seen that, at a very early -period of his life, he studied the Mexican, Peruvian, and other languages -of Spanish America. That he spoke both Mexican and Peruvian after he -came to Rome, Cardinal Wiseman has no doubt. He is also stated to have -learned something of the languages of Oceanica from Bishop Pompalier, -of New Zealand. I may add here, though I have failed in finding native -witnesses, that it is the universal belief in Rome that he spoke well -both ancient and modern Chaldee, and ancient Coptic, as also the modern -dialect of Egypt. He had the repute also of being thoroughly familiar -with both branches of the Illyrian family—the Slavonic and the Romanic. -To the testimonies already borne to his skill in Armenian and Turkish, -I must add that of the Mechitarist, Father Raphael Trenz, Superior of -the Armenian College in Paris, who knew him in 1846. “Having conversed -with his Eminence,” writes this father,[537] “in ancient and in modern -Armenian, and also in Turkish, I am able to attest that he spoke and -pronounced them all with the purity and propriety of a native of these -countries.” - -Perhaps also, although we have had many notices of his skill in Russian -and Polish from a very early period, it may be satisfactory to subjoin -the reports of one or two travellers who conversed with him in these -languages during his latter years. - -To begin with Russian. A traveller of that nation who twice visited him -about this time, cited by Mr. Watts, describes him as “a phenomenon as -yet unparalleled in the literary world, and one that will scarce be -repeated, unless the gift of tongues be given anew, as at the dawn of -Christianity.” - - “Cardinal Mezzofanti,” he writes, “spoke eight languages - fluently in my presence: he expressed himself in Russian - very purely and correctly; but, as he is more accustomed to - the style of books than that of ordinary discourse, it is - necessary to use the language of books in talking with him for - the conversation to flow freely. His passion for acquiring - languages is so great, that even now, in advanced age, he - continues to study fresh dialects. He learned Chinese not long - ago; and is constantly visiting the Propaganda for practice in - conversation with its pupils of all sorts of races. I asked - him to give me a list of all the languages and dialects in - which he was able to express himself, and he sent me the name - of GOD written in his own hand, in fifty-six languages, of - which thirty were European, not counting their subdivision of - dialects, seventeen Asiatic, also without reckoning dialects, - five African, and four American. In his person, the confusion - that arose at the building of Babel is annihilated, and all - nations, according to the sublime expression of Scriptures, - are again of one tongue. Will posterity ever see anything - similar? Mezzofanti is one of the most wonderful curiosities of - Rome.”[538] - -In the end of the year 1845, Nicholas, the late Emperor of Russia, (who -of course is an authority also on the Polish language,) came to Rome, on -his return from Naples, where he had been visiting his invalid Empress. -The history of his interview with the Pope, Gregory XVI., and of the -apostolic courage and candour with which, in two successive conferences, -that great pontiff laid before him the cruelty, injustice, and impolicy -of his treatment of the Catholic subjects of his empire, is too well -known to need repetition here.[539] It was commonly said at the time, -and has been repeated in more than one publication, that the Pope’s -interpreter in this memorable conference was Cardinal Mezzofanti. This is -a mistake. The only Cardinal present at the interview was the mild and -retiring, but truly noble-minded and apostolic, Cardinal Acton. - -A few days, however, after this interview, M. Boutanieff, the Russian -minister at Rome, wrote to request that Cardinal Mezzofanti would wait -upon the Emperor; and a still more direct invitation was conveyed to -him, in the name of the Emperor himself, by his first aide-de-camp. The -Cardinal of course could not hesitate to comply. Their conversation was -held both in Russian and in Polish. The Emperor was filled with wonder, -and confessed that, in either of these languages it would be difficult -to discover any trace of foreign peculiarity in the Cardinal’s accent or -manner.[540] It is somewhat amusing to add, that the Cardinal is said to -have taken some exceptions to the purity, or at least the elegance, of -the Emperor’s Polish conversational style. - -As regards the Polish language, however, the year 1845 supplies other and -more direct testimonies than that of the Emperor Nicholas. - -In an extract cited by Mr. Watts from the Posthumous Works of the eminent -Polish authoress, Klementyna z Tanskich Hoffmanowa, who visited Rome in -the March of that year, it is stated that “the cardinal spoke Polish -well, though with somewhat strained and far-fetched expressions;” and -that he was master of the great difficulty of Polish pronunciation—that -of the marked _l_—“although he often forgot it.” This lady has preserved -in her Diary a Polish couplet, written for her by the Cardinal with his -own hand, under a little picture of the Madonna. - - Ten ogien ktory żyia w sercu twoiem - O Matko Boża! zapal w sercu moiem.[541] - -Another, and to the Cardinal far more interesting, representative of the -Polish language appeared in Rome during the same year. Mezzofanti had -long felt deeply the wrongs of his oppressed fellow-Catholics in Poland -and Lithuania. A few months before the Emperor’s arrival in Rome, they -had been brought most painfully under his eyes by the visit of a refugee -of that vast empire, and a victim of the atrocious policy which had -become its ruling spirit—the heroic Makrena Mirazylawski, abbess of the -Basilian convent of Minsk, the capital of the province of that name. The -organized measures of coercion by which the Emperor endeavoured to compel -the Catholic population of Lithuania and Poland, and the other Catholic -subjects of the empire, into renunciation of their allegiance to the -Holy See, and conformity with the doctrine and discipline of the Russian -church, comprised all the members of the Catholic church in Russia -without exception, even the nuns of the various communities throughout -their provinces. Among these was a sisterhood of the Basilian order in -the city of Minsk, thirty-five in number. The bishop of the diocese and -the chaplain of the convent, having themselves conformed to the imperial -will, first endeavoured to bend the resolution of these sisters by -blandishment, but in the end sought by open violence to compel them into -submission. But the nobleminded sisters, with their abbess at their head, -firmly refused to yield; and, in the year 1839, the entire community -(with the exception of one who died from grief and terror) were driven -from their convent, and marched in chains to Witepsk, and afterwards -to Polosk, where, with two other communities equally firm in their -attachment to their creed, they were subjected, for nearly six years, to -a series of cruelties and indignities of which it is difficult to think -without horror, and which would revolt all credibility, were they not -attested by authorities far from partial to the monastic institute.[542] -Chained hand and foot; flogged; beaten with the fist and with clubs; -thrown to the earth and trampled under foot; compelled to break stones -and to labour at quarries and earthworks; dragged in sacks after a -boat through a lake in the depth of winter; supplied only with the -most loathsome food and in most insufficient quantity; lodged in cells -creeping with maggots and with vermin; fed for a time exclusively on salt -herrings, without a drop of water; tried, in a word, by every conceivable -device of cruelty;—the perseverance of these heroic women is a living -miracle of martyr-like fidelity. Nine of the number died from the effects -of the excessive and repeated floggings to which, week after week, they -were subjected, three fell dead in the course of their cruel tasks; two -were trampled to death by their drunken guards; three were drowned in -these brutal _noyades_; nine were killed by the falling of a wall, and -five were crushed in an excavation, while engaged in the works already -referred to; eight became blind; two lost their reason; several others -were maimed and crippled in various ways; so that, in the year 1845, -out of the three united communities (which at the first had numbered -fifty-eight) only four, of whom Makrena was the chief, retained the use -of their limbs! These heroines of faith and endurance contrived at last -to effect their escape from Polosk, from which place it had been resolved -to transport them to Siberia; and, through a thousand difficulties and -dangers, Makrena Mirazylawski made her adventurous way to Rome. - -The sufferings and the wrongs of this interesting stranger found a ready -sympathy in Cardinal Mezzofanti’s generous heart. He listened to her -narrative with deep indignation, and took the liveliest interest in all -the arrangements for her safe and fitting reception and that of her -companions. - -I was naturally anxious to hear what, on the other hand, were the -abbess’s impressions of the cardinal. In reply to the inquiries of my -friend, Rev. Dr. Morris, she “spoke of him in the very highest terms.” -“He was,” she said, “a living saint,” and she described both his charity -and his spirituality as very remarkable. When Father Ryllo (the Jesuit -Rector of the Propaganda before F. Bresciani) left Rome for the African -Mission, Cardinal Mezzofanti became Mother Makrena’s director, and -continued to be so for two years. “He spoke Polish,” she declares, -“like a native of Poland, and wrote it with great correctness.” Having -ascertained that the abbess had had a considerable packet of papers -written by him in Polish, generally on those occasions when he could not -come to her as usual, on various spiritual subjects, I was most anxious -to obtain copies of them; but I was deeply mortified to learn that they -were all unfortunately lost in the Revolution, when she was driven out -of her little convent near Santa Maria Maggiore. This humble community -was afterwards increased by the arrival of other fugitives from different -parts of the Russian Empire; nor did the cardinal cease till the very -last days of his life his anxious care of all their spiritual and -temporal interests. - -Another religious institution to which he devoted a good deal of his -time was the House of Catechumens, of which, as has already been stated, -he was Cardinal Protector. When M. Manavit was in Rome the inmates of -this establishment, then in preparation for baptism, were between thirty -and forty, several of whom were Moors or natives of Algeria; and there -are few who will not cordially agree with him[543] in looking upon “the -modest Cardinal, catechism in hand, in the midst of this humble flock, as -a nobler picture, more truly worthy of admiration, than delivering his -most learned dissertation on the Vedas to the most brilliant company that -ever assembled in the halls of the Propaganda.” - -In this, and in more than one other charitable institution of Rome, the -Cardinal took especial delight in assisting at the First Communion of the -young inmates; and, from the simple fervour of his manner and the genuine -truthfulness of his piety, he was most happy and effective in the little -half hortatory, half ejaculatory discourses, called _Fervorini_, which in -Rome ordinarily, on occasions of a First Communion, precede the actual -administration of the sacrament. - -M. Manavit adds that, even after Mezzofanti became cardinal, his old -character of _Confessario dei Forestieri_ (“Foreigners’ Confessor”) was -by no means a sinecure. To many of the Polish exiles, clergy and laity, -who visited or settled in Rome, he acted as director, especially after -Father Ryllo’s departure to Africa. He was equally accessible to low and -high degree. M. Mouravieff[544] (the Russian traveller already cited) -mentions an instance in which, having heard of a poor servant maid, -a young Russian girl, who desired to be received into the Church, he -paid her repeated visits, instructed her in the catechism, and himself -completed in person every part of her preparation for the sacraments. - - * * * * * - -The death of Pope Gregory XVI., (June 1st, 1846) which, although in a -ripe old age, was at the time entirely unexpected, was a great affliction -to Mezzofanti, whose affectionate relations with him were maintained to -the very last. The Cardinal was, of course, a member of the conclave -in which (June 16th) Pius IX. was elected. The speedy and unanimous -agreement of the Cardinals in this election—one of the few which seemed -to convert the traditional form of “election by inspiration,” into a -reality—was commemorated impromptu by him in the following graceful -epigram:— - - Gregorius cœlo invectus sic protinus orat: - “Heu cito Pastorem da, bone Christe, gregi!” - Audit; et immissus pervadit pectora Patrum, - Spiritus: et Nonus prodiitecce Pius![545] - -During the pontificate of Gregory XVI., Cardinal Mezzofanti never held -any office of state; nor did the change of sovereign make any change -in his rank or his occupations. He was, of course, continued by the -new government in all his appointments; and the new Pope, Pius IX., -regarded him with the same friendship and favour which he had enjoyed -at the hands of his predecessor. In the social and political changes -which ensued, Mezzofanti, from his non-political character, had no part. -No one sympathized more cordially with the beneficent intentions of -his Sovereign; but, completely shut out as he was by his position from -political affairs, he pursued his quiet career, with all its wonted -regularity, through the very hottest excitement of the eventful years of -1847 and 1848. - -Many visitors who conversed with him in these, the last years of his -life, have repeated to me the accounts which have already become familiar -from the reports of those who knew him in earlier years. The fulfilment -of his public duties as Cardinal;—the care of the institutions over which -an especial charge had been assigned him;—the confessional, whenever his -services were sought by a foreigner;—above all, his beloved pupils in the -Propaganda—these formed for him the business of life. - - “Almost every evening, when I was in the College of the - Propaganda,” says F. Bresciani, “he would come to exercise - himself with these dear pupils, who are collected there from - all nations of the world, to be educated in sacred and profane - literature and in the apostolic spirit. Then, as he conversed - with me in the halls of the Propaganda when the pupils were - returning from their evening walks, he would go to meet them - as he saw them coming up the steps, and, as they passed him, - would say something to them in their own languages; speaking - to one, Chinese; to another, Armenian; to a third, Greek; to a - fourth, Bulgarian. This one he would accost in Arabic, that, in - Ethiopic, Geez, or Abyssinian; now he would speak in Russian, - then in Albanian, in Persian, in Peguan, in Coptic, in English, - in Lithuanian, in German, in Danish, in Georgian, in Kurdish, - in Norwegian, in Swedish. Nor was there ever any risk that he - should get entangled, or that a word of another language or a - wrong pronunciation should escape him.”[546]... - - “Every year, from the time of his coming to Rome, even after - he had been made Cardinal, he used to assist the students in - composing their several national odes for the Polyglot Academy - of the Propaganda, which is held during the octave of the - Epiphany, and in which the astonished foreigners who witness - it behold a living emblem of the unity of the Catholic Church, - which alone is able, through the Holy Spirit that vivifieth - her, to show forth in one fraternity the union of all tongues, - in praising and blessing the Lord who created us and redeemed - us by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now the Cardinal, in these - fifty tongues and upwards, in which the pupils composed, would - make all the necessary corrections whether of thought, metre, - or phrase, with all, and perhaps more than all, the facility - and exactness of others in writing poetry in their native - tongue. After he had corrected the compositions, he would - take his beloved pupils, one by one, and instruct them in the - proper mode of reciting and pronouncing each. And, as some of - them occasionally had entered college when very little boys, - and had forgotten some of the tones or cadence of their native - languages, he would come to their aid by suggesting these, - testing and correcting them with the utmost gentleness and - patience.”[547] - -It would be out of place here to enter into any detail of the startling -and violent changes by which these tranquil occupations were rudely -interrupted. The Cardinal had watched with deep anxiety the gradually -increasing demands with which each successive generous and confiding -measure of the administration of Pius IX. had been met; but even his -sagacious mind, schooled as it had already been in the vicissitudes of -former revolutions, was not prepared for the succession of terrible -events which crowded themselves into the last few weeks of the “year -of revolution”—the furious demands of the clubs—the expulsion of the -Jesuits—the assassination of De Rossi—the obtrusion of a republican -ministry—the flight of the Pope—the proclamation of the Republic. Amid -all the terrors of the time, he had but one thought—gratitude for the -safety of the Pope. He was urged by his friends to imitate the example -of the main body of the Cardinals, and to follow his Sovereign to Gaeta -or Naples; but he refused to leave Rome, and continued through all the -scenes of violence which followed the flight of Pius IX., to live, -without any attempt at concealment, at his old quarters in the Palazzo -Valentiniani. - -Nevertheless, although, personally, Cardinal Mezzofanti suffered no -molestation, the alarm and anxiety inseparable from such a time, could -not fail to tell upon a constitution, at no time robust, and of late -years much enfeebled. From the beginning of the year 1849, his strength -began sensibly to diminish. It was characteristic of the man that even -all the terrors of the period could not make him forget his favourite -festival of the Epiphany; and that, among the numberless more deplorable -changes which surrounded him, he still had a regret for the absence of -the accustomed Polyglot Academy of the Propaganda. Before the middle of -January he became so weak, that it was with the utmost difficulty he was -able to say mass in his private chapel. While he was in this state of -extreme debility, he was seized with an alarming attack of pleurisy; and -although the acute symptoms were so far relieved at the end of January, -that his family entertained sanguine hopes of his recovery, this illness -was followed, in the early part of February, by an attack of gastric -fever, by which the slender remains of his strength were speedily -exhausted. - -The venerable sufferer at once became sensible of his condition. From the -very first intimation of his danger, he had commenced his preparation -for death, with all the calm and simple piety which had characterised -his life. In accordance with one of our beautiful Catholic customs—at -once most holy in themselves, and an admirable help even to the sublimest -piety—he at once entered upon a _Novena_, or nine days’ devotion, to St. -Joseph; who, as, according to an old tradition, his own eyes were closed -in death by the blessed hands of his divine Saviour, has been adopted -by Catholic usage as the Patron of the Dying, and who was besides the -name-saint and especial Patron of the Cardinal himself. In these pious -exercises he was accompanied by his chaplain, by his nephews, Gaetano and -Pietro, and above all, by his niece, Anna, who was most tenderly attached -to him, and was inconsolable at the prospect of his death. He himself -fixed the time for receiving the Holy Viaticum and the Extreme Unction. -They were administered by Padre Ligi, parish priest of the Church of SS. -Apostoli, assisted by the Cardinal’s chaplain, and by his confessor, -Padre Proja, now Sacristan of St. Peter’s. The chaplain and the members -of his family frequently assembled at his bed-side, to accompany and -assist him in his dying devotions; and the intervals between these common -prayers, in which all alike took part, were filled up with pious readings -by Anna Minarelli, and with short prayers of the holy Cardinal himself. -“Dio mio! abbiate pietà di me!” “My God, have mercy on me!”—was his ever -recurring ejaculation, mingled occasionally with prayers for the exiled -Pontiff, for the welfare of his widowed Church, and for the peace of his -distracted country. “_Abbiate pietà della Chiesa! Preghiamo per lei!_” - -By degrees he became too feeble to maintain his attention through a -long prayer; but even still, with that deeply reverent spirit which had -always distinguished him, he would not suffer the prayer to be abruptly -terminated. “_Terminiamo con un Gloria Patri_,” “Let us finish with a -Gloria Patri:”—he would say, when he found himself unable longer to -attend to the Litany of the Dying, or the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin. -But in a short time he would again summon them to resume their devotion. - -Early in March it became evident that his end was fast approaching. He -still retained strength by energy enough to commence a second Novena -to his holy Patron St. Joseph—a pious exercise, which, in the simple -words of his biographer, “he was destined to bring to an end in heaven.” -During the last three days of life, his articulation, at times, was -barely distinguishable; but even when his words were inaudible, his -attendants could not mistake the unvarying fervour of his look, and the -reverent movements of the lips and eyes, which betokened his unceasing -prayer. From the morning of the 15th of March, the decline of strength -became visibly more rapid; and, on the night of that day, he calmly -expired.[548] His last distinguishable words, a happy augury of his -blessed end—were: “_Andiamo, andiamo, presto in Paradiso._” “_I am -going—I am going—soon to Paradise!_” - -The absence of the Roman Court, as well as the other unhappy -circumstances of the times, precluded the possibility of performing his -obsequies with the accustomed ceremonial. An offer of the honours of -a public funeral, with deputations from the university, and an escort -of the National Guard, was made by M. Gherardi, the Minister of Public -Instruction in the new-born Republic. But these, and all other honours -of the anti-Papal Republic, were declined by his family;—not only from -the unseemliness of such a ceremonial at such a time, but still more as -inconsistent with the loyalty, and the personal feelings, principles, and -character, of the illustrious deceased. - -Without a trace, therefore, of the wonted solemnities of a cardinalitial -funeral—the _cappella ardente_; the lofty catafalque; the solemn lying in -state; the grand _Missa de Requiem_;—the remains of the great linguist -were, on the evening of the 17th of March, conducted unostentatiously, -with no escort but that of his own family and of the members of his -modest household, bearing torches in their hands, to their last -resting-place in Sant’ Onofrio, on the Janiculum—the church of his -Cardinalitial title. - -There, within the same walls which, as we saw, enclose the ashes of -Torquato Tasso, the tomb of Cardinal Mezzofanti may be recognised by -the following unpretending inscription, from the pen of his friend Mgr. -Laureani:— - - HEIC. IN. SEDE. HONORIS. SUI. - SITUS. EST. - JOSEPHUS. MEZZOFANTI. S. R. E. CARD. - INNOCENTIA. MORUM. ET. PIETATE. MEMORANDUS. - ITEMQUE. OMNIUM. DOCTRINARUM. - AC. VETERUM. NOVORUMQUE. IDIOMATUM. - SCIENTIA. - PLANE. SINGULARIS. ET. FAMA. CULTIORI. ORBI. - NOTISSIMUS. - BONONIAE. NATUS. ANNO. MDCCLXXIV. - ROMAE. DECESSIT. AN. MDCCCXLVIIII. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -(RECAPITULATION.) - - -We have now before us, in the narrative of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s life, -such materials for an estimate of his attainments as a linguist and a -scholar, as a most diligent and impartial inquiry has enabled me to bring -together. I can truly say that in no single instance have I suffered -my own personal admiration of his extraordinary gifts to shape or to -influence that inquiry. I have not looked to secure a verdict by culling -the evidence. A great name is but tarnished by unmerited praise—_non -eget mendacio nostro_. I have felt that I should consult best for the -fame of Mezzofanti, by exhibiting it in its simple truth; and I have -sought information regarding him, fearlessly and honestly, in every -field in which I saw a prospect of obtaining it,—from persons of every -class, country, and creed—from friendly, from indifferent, and even from -hostile quarters;—from all, in a word, without exception, whom I knew -or thought likely to possess the means of contributing to the solution -of the interesting problem in the annals of the human mind, which is -involved in his history. It only remains to sum up the results. Nor is -it easy to approach this duty with a perfectly unbiassed mind. If, on the -one hand, there is a temptation to heighten the marvels of the history, -viewed through what Carlyle calls “the magnifying _camera oscura_ of -tradition,” on the other, there is the opposite danger of unduly yielding -to incredulity, and discarding its genuine facts on the sole ground -of their marvellousness. I shall endeavour to hold a middle course. I -shall not accept any of the wonders related of Mezzofanti, unless they -seem attested by undisputable authority: but neither shall I, in a case -so clearly abnormal as his, and one in which all ordinary laws are so -completely at fault, reject well-attested facts, because they may seem -irreconcilable with every-day experience. Our judgments of unwonted -mental phenomena can hardly be too diffident, or too circumspect. The -marvels of the faculty of memory which we all have read of; the prodigies -of analysis which many of us have witnessed in the mental arithmeticians -who occasionally present themselves for exhibition; the very vagaries -of the senses themselves, which occasionally follow certain abnormal -conditions of the organs—are almost as wide a departure from what we are -accustomed to in these departments, as is the greatest marvel related of -Mezzofanti in the faculty of language. Perhaps there could not be a more -significant rebuke of this universal scepticism, than the fact that the -very event which Juvenal, in his celebrated sneer at the tale of - - Velificatus Athos, et quidquid Græcia mendax - Audet in historiâ— - -has selected as the type of self-convicted mendacity—the passage of -Xerxes’s fleet through Mount Athos—now proves to be not only possible, -but absolutely true; and it is wisely observed by Mr. Grote, that, while -no amount of mere intrinsic probability is sufficient to establish the -truth of an unattested statement, on the other hand, “statements in -themselves highly improbable may well deserve belief, provided they be -supported by sufficient positive evidence.” (_Hist. of Greece_, I. 571.) - - * * * * * - -There are two heads of inquiry which appear to me specially deserving of -attention. - -First, the number of languages with which Cardinal Mezzofanti was -acquainted, and the degree of his proficiency in each. - -Secondly, his method of studying languages, and the peculiar mental -development to which his extraordinary success as a linguist is -attributable. - -I.—I wish I could begin, in accordance with a suggestion of my friend -M. d’Abbadie, by defining exactly what is meant by _knowledge_ of a -language. But unfortunately, the shades of such knowledge are almost -infinite. The vocabularies of our modern languages contain as many -as forty or fifty thousand words; and Claude Chappe, the inventor of -the telegraph, calculates, that for the complete expression of human -thought and sentiment in all its forms, at least ten thousand words -are necessary. On the other hand, M. d’Abbadie, in his explorations in -Abyssinia, was able to make his way without an interpreter, though his -vocabulary did not comprise quite six hundred words; and M. Julien, -in his controversy with Pauthier, asserts that about four thousand -words will amply suffice even for the study of the great classics of a -language, as Homer, Byron, or Racine. - -Which of these standards are we to adopt? - -And even if we fix upon any one of them, how shall we apply it to -the Cardinal, whereas we can only judge of him by the reports of his -visitors, who applied to him, each a standard of his own? - -It is plain that any such strict philosophical notion, however desirable, -would be inapplicable in practice. It appears to me, however, that the -objects of this inquiry will be sufficiently attained by adopting a -popular notion, founded upon the common estimation of mankind. I think a -man may be truly said to know a language thoroughly, if he can read it -fluently and with ease; if he can write it correctly in prose, or still -more, in verse; and above all, if he be admitted by intelligent and -educated natives to speak it correctly and idiomatically. - -I shall be content to apply this standard to Cardinal Mezzofanti. - - * * * * * - -Looking back over the narrative of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s life, we can -trace a tolerably regular progress in the number of languages ascribed to -him through its several stages. In 1805, according to Father Caronni, “he -was commonly reported to be master of more than twenty-four languages.” -Giordani’s account of him in 1812, seems, although it does not specify -any number, to indicate a greater total than this. Stewart Rose, in -1817, speaks of him as “reading twenty languages, and conversing in -eighteen.” Baron von Zach, in 1820, brings the number of the languages -spoken by him up to thirty-two. Lady Morgan states, that by the public -report of Bologna he was reputed to be master of forty. He himself, in -1836, stated to M. Mazzinghi that he knew forty-five; and before 1839, he -used to say that he knew “fifty, and Bolognese.” In reply to the request -of M. Mouravieff, a little later, that he would give him a list of the -languages that he knew, he sent him a sheet containing the name of God in -fifty-six languages. In the year 1846 he told Father Bresciani that he -knew seventy-eight languages and dialects;[549] and a list communicated -to me by his nephew, Dr. Gaetano Minarelli, by whom it has been compiled -after a diligent examination of his deceased uncle’s books and papers, -reaches the astounding total of one hundred and fourteen! - -It is clear, however, that these, and the similar statements which have -been current, require considerable examination and explanation. It is -much to be regretted that the Cardinal did not, with his own hand, -draw up, as he had often been requested, and as he certainly intended, -a complete catalogue of the languages known by him, distinguishing, -as in the similar statement left by Sir William Jones, the degrees of -his knowledge of the several languages which it comprised. In none of -the statements on the subject which are in existence, is any attempt -made to discriminate the languages with which he was familiar from -those imperfectly known by him. On the contrary, from the tone of some -of his panegyrists, it would seem that they wish to represent him as -equally at home in all;—a notion which he himself, in his conversations -with Lady Morgan, with Dr. Tholuck, with M. Mazzinghi, and on many -subsequent occasions, distinctly repudiated and ridiculed. In his -statement to Father Bresciani, in 1846, the Cardinal did not enumerate -the seventy-eight languages and dialects which he knew or had studied; -but in the year before his death, 1848, he told Father Bresciani that he -was then engaged in drawing up a comparative scheme of languages, their -common descent, their affinities, and their ramifications; together with -a simple and easy plan for acquiring a number of languages, however -dissimilar.[550] At my request, Father Bresciani kindly applied to Dr. -Minarelli, the nephew and representative of the deceased, for a copy -of this interesting paper; but unfortunately no trace of it is now -discoverable, and Dr. Minarelli supposes that, as was usual with him when -dissatisfied with any of his compositions, the Cardinal burnt it before -his death. - -During the course of this search, however, Dr. Minarelli himself was led -to draw up, partly from his own knowledge of his uncle’s attainments, -partly from the inspection of his books and papers, a detailed list -of the languages with which he believes the Cardinal to have been -acquainted. This list he has kindly communicated to me. From its very -nature, of course, it is to a great extent conjectural; it makes no -pretension to a scientific classification of the languages; and it -contains several evident oversights and errors; but as the writer, in -addition to his long personal intercourse with his uncle, enjoyed the -opportunity of access to his papers and memoranda, and above all to his -books in various languages, his grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies, -and the marginal notes and observations—the schemes, paradigms, -critical analyses, and other evidences of knowledge, or at least of -study—which they contain; and as he has been mainly guided by these in -the compilation of his list of languages, I shall translate the paper in -its integrity, merely correcting certain obvious errors, and striking -out a few of the items in the enumeration, in which, clearly by mistake, -the same language is twice repeated. The order of languages is in part -alphabetical. - - 1. Albanese or Epirote. - 2. Arabic. - 3. Armenian. - 4. Angolese. - 5. Aymara. - 6. Algonquin. - 7. Brazilian. - 8. Mexican. - 9. Paraguay. - 10. Peruvian. - 11. Birman. - 12. Bohemian. - 13. Bunda, (in Angola.) - 14. Betoi. - 15. _Baure_,[551] (?) - 16. _Braubica_,[552] (?) - 17. Chaldee. - 18. Chinese. - 19. Cochin-Chinese. - 20. Tonkinese. - 21. Japanese. - 22. Curaçao. - 23. Coptic. - 24. Chilian. - 25. Koordish. - 26. Californian. - 27. Cora. - 28. _Conserica_,[553] (?) - 29 _Cahuapana_.[554] (?) - 30 Canisiana. - 31 Cayubaba. - 32 Cochimi. - 33 Danish. - 34 Swedish. - 35 Norwegian. - 36 Icelandic. - 37 Lappish. - 38 Tamul. - 39 Hebrew. - 40 Rabbinical Hebrew. - 41 Samaritan. - 42 Coptic Egyptian. - 43 Coptic Arabic.[555] - 44 Etruscan[556] (so far as known to the learned.) - 45 Ethiopic. - 46 _Emabellada_.[557] (?) - 47 Phenician, (so far as it is known.) - 48 Flemish. - 49 French. - 50 Breton French. - 51 Lorraine Dialect. - 52 Provençal. - 53 Gothic and Visi Gothic. - 54 Ancient Greek. - 55 Romaic. - 56 Georgian or Iberian. - 57 Grisons, or Rhetian. - 58 Guarany. - 59 Guariza. - 60 Illyrian. - 61 Iberian.[558] - 62 _Idioma Mistico._[559] - 63 Itomani. - 64 Cingalese. - 65 Hindostani. - 66 Malabar. - 67 Malay. - 68 Sanscrit. - 69 Sanscrit Dialect of Eastern Persia. - 70 English. - 71 Ancient Breton.[560] - 72 Scottish Celtic.[561] - 73 Scotch. - 74 Irish. - 75 Welsh. - 76 Italian. - 77 Friulese. - 78 Maltese. - 79 Sardinian. - 80 Lombard, Ligurian, Piedmontese, Sicilian & Tuscan dialect of - Italian. - 81 Latin. - 82 Maronite and Syro-Maronite. (?) - 83 Madagascar. - 84 Mobima. - 85 Moorish. - 86 Maya. - 87 Dutch. - 88 Othomi. - 89 Omagua. - 90 Australian.[562] - 91 Persian. - 92 Polish. - 93 Portuguese. - 94 Peguan. - 95 Pimpanga.[563] - 96 Quichua.[564] - 97 Russian. - 98 _Rocorana_ (?)[565] - 99 Slavonic. - 100 Slavo-Carniolan. - 101 Slavo-Servian. - 102 Slavo-Ruthenian. - 103 Slavo-Wallachian. - 104 Syriac. - 105 Samogitian, or Lettish. - 106 Spanish. - 107 Catalonian. - 108 Basque. - 109 Tanna.[566] - 110 German. - 111 Tibetan. - 112 Turkish. - 113 Hungarian. - 114 Gipsy. - -Such is the Cavaliere Minarelli’s report of the result at which he -has arrived, after an examination of the books and manuscripts of -his illustrious uncle. In its form, I regret to say, it is far from -satisfactory. It places on exactly the same level languages generically -distinct and mere provincial varieties of dialect. In one or two -instances, also, (as Angolese and Bunda, Swedish and Norwegian,) the same -language appears twice under different names. Above all, the compiler has -not attempted to classify the languages according _to the degree of the -Cardinal’s acquaintance with each of them_; nor has he entered into any -explanation of the nature of the evidence of acquaintance with each of -them which is supplied by the documents upon which he relies.[567] - -As I cannot, consistently with the fundamental principle of this inquiry, -accept such a statement, when unsupported by the testimony of native (or -otherwise competent) witnesses for the several languages, as conclusive -evidence of the Cardinal’s knowledge of the languages which it ascribes -to him, I shall merely offer this otherwise interesting paper at whatever -may be considered its just value; and I shall endeavour to decide the -question upon grounds entirely independent of it, and drawn solely from -the materials which I have already placed before the reader. - -It will, no doubt, have been observed that, so far as regards the reports -of the travellers and others who conversed with the Cardinal, the degrees -of his power of speaking the several languages have been very differently -tested. In some languages he was, as it were, perpetually under trial: -in others, very frequently, and in prolonged conversations; in others, -less frequently, but nevertheless searchingly enough; in others, in -fine, perhaps only to the extent of a few questions and answers. It is -absolutely necessary, in forming any judgment, to attend carefully to -this circumstance. I shall endeavour, therefore, to divide the languages -ascribed to him into four different classes. - -First, languages certainly spoken by Cardinal Mezzofanti with a -perfection rare in foreigners. - -Secondly, languages which is he said to have spoken well, but as to which -the evidence of sufficient trial is not so complete. - -Thirdly, languages which he spoke freely, but less perfectly. - -Fourthly, languages in which he could merely express himself and initiate -a conversation. I shall add:— - -Fifthly, certain other languages which he had studied from books, but -does not appear to have spoken. - -And lastly, dialects of the principal languages. This order, of course, -precludes all idea of a scientific classification[568] of the languages -according to families. - -I.—_Languages frequently tested, and spoken with rare excellence._[569] - - 1 Hebrew, (Supra, p. 283, 341, 345, 371.) - 2 Rabbinical Hebrew, (283, 341.) - 3 Arabic, (283, 371, 441.) - 4 Chaldee, (278, 384, 362, 451.) - 5 Coptic, (311, 441, 451.) - 6 Ancient Armenian, (352, 441.) - 7 Modern Armenian, (352, 441.) - 8 Persian, (278, 352, 394.) - 9 Turkish, (226, 311, 393, 441.) - 10 Albanese, (362, 393, 451.) - 11 Maltese, (336, 362.) - 12 Greek, (353.) - 13 Romaic, (353.) - 14 Latin, (201, 347.) - 15 Italian, (_passim._) - 16 Spanish, (276, 312, 441.) - 17 Portuguese, (337, 367.) - 18 French, (271, 276, 387.) - 19 German, (239, 250, 271, 277, 281, 325, 345, 346, 393.) - 20 Swedish, (271, 272, 350, 351.) - 21 Danish, (239, 281.) - 22 Dutch, (328, 330, 332.) - 23 Flemish, (324, 328.) - 24 English, (223, 226, 228, 348, 403.) - 25 Illyrian, (393, 441.) - 26 Russian, (244, 442, 443.) - 27 Polish, (328, 444, 447.) - 28 Czechish, or Bohemian, (246, 233.) - 29 Magyar, (242, 389, 391.) - 30 Chinese, (309, 310, 365, 368, 369, 451.) - -II.—_Stated to have been spoken fluently, but hardly sufficiently tested._ - - 1 Syriac, (354, 364.) - 2 Geez, (383, 385, 394.) - 3 Amarinna, (384, 385, 334.) - 4 Hindostani, (364, 366.) - 5 Guzarattee, (367.) - 6 Basque, (393, 388.) - 7 Wallachian, (216, 244.) - 8 Californian, (355-7.) - 9 Algonquin, (360-1.). - -III. _Spoken rarely, and less perfectly._ - - 1 Koordish, (394, 451.) - 2 Georgian, (251, 394.) - 3 Servian (the dialects of Bosnia and of the Bannat,) (394.) - 4 Bulgarian, (365, 393, 441.) - 5 Gipsy language, (244.) - 6 Peguan, (364, 418, 451.) - 7 Welsh, (320, 322, 323.) - 8 Angolese, (370, 394.) - 9 Mexican, (441.) - 10 Chilian, (441.) - 11 Peruvian, (441.) - -IV. _Spoken imperfectly;—a few sentences and conversational forms._ - - 1 Cingalese, (363.) - 2 Birmese, (270, 463.[570]) - 3 Japanese, (463.) - 4 Irish, (442.) - 5 Gælic, (424.) - 6 Chippewa Indian, (360.) - 7 Delaware, (360.) - 8 Some of the languages of Oceanica, (441.) - -V. _Studied from books, but not known to have been spoken._ - - 1 Sanscrit, (291, 394.) - 2 Malay, (464.) - 3 Tonquinese, (463.) - 4 Cochin-Chinese, (463.) - 5 Tibetan, (465.) - 6 Japanese, (463.) - 7 Icelandic, (464.) - 8 Lappish, (394.) - 9 Ruthenian, (311.) - 10 Frisian, (282.) - 11 Lettish, (394, 451.) - 12 Cornish, (old British of Cornwall,) (280.) - 13 Quichua, (ancient Peruvian,) (281.) - 14 Bimbarra, (Central African,) (281.) - -VI.—_Dialects spoken, or their peculiarities understood._ - -1.—HEBREW. - - Samaritan, (416.) - -2.—ARABIC. - - Syrian dialect (fluently, 371.) - Egyptian do., (311.) - Moorish, (171.) - Berber, (463.) - -3.—CHINESE. - - Kiang-Si dialect, (416.) - Hu-quam do., (416.) - -4.—ITALIAN. - - Sicilian, (324, 354.) - Sardinian, (158-9.) - Neapolitan, (324.) - Bolognese, (247, 344.) - Lombard, (464.) - Friulese, (464.) - -5.—SPANISH - - Catalan, (441.) - Valencian, (441.) - Majorican, (441.) - -6.—BASQUE. - - Labourdain, (387-8.) - Souletin, (387.) - Guipuscoan, (388.) - -7.—MAGYAR. - - Debreczeny, (391.) - Eperies, (391.) - Pesth, (391.) - Transylvanian, (491.) - -8.—GERMAN. - - Ancient Gothic, (464.) - Rhetian (Grisons,) (Appendix.) - _Sette Communi_ dialect, (218.) - Dialects of Northern and Southern Germany, (243.) - -9.—FRENCH. - - Provençal, (275.) - Tolosan, (440.) - Burgundian, (444.) - Gascon, (463.) - Bearnais, (440.) - Lorraine, (463.) - Bas Breton, (439.) - -10.—ENGLISH. - - Somersetshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire dialects, (404.) - Lowland Scotch, (437.) - -I should add that many of these dialects, as the Moorish and Berber -Arabic, the Spanish of Majorca, the Provençal French, the Italian of -Sicily and Sardinia, and the language of the Grisons or Graubünden, might -most justly be described as separate languages, at least as regards the -difficulty of acquisition. In the catalogue of the Cavaliere Minarelli a -series of languages (the very names of which the reader probably never -has heard,) are enumerated, chiefly of the central and South American -families—of the former, the Cora, the Tepehuana, the Mistek, the Othomi, -the Maya; of the latter, the Paraguay, the Omagua, the Aymara, the -Canisiana, and the Mobima. I am not aware of the authority on which the -Cavaliere relies in reference to these languages. For the majority of -them, I must say that I cannot find in the catalogue of the Cardinal’s -library any distinct trace whatever of his having studied them; but it -is certain that he had given his attention early to the languages of -these countries; that he had opportunities in Bologna of conversing with -ex-Jesuit missionaries from the central and South American provinces; and -that the library of the Propaganda, of which he had the unrestricted use, -contains many printed and manuscript elementary works in languages of -which little trace is elsewhere to be found. - -Summing up, therefore, all the authentic accounts of him as yet made -public; discarding the loose statements of superficial marvel-mongers, -and divesting the genuine reports, as far as possible, of the vagueness -by which many of them have been characterized, it appears that, in -addition to a large number of (more than thirty) minor dialects, -Mezzofanti was acquainted in various degrees with seventy-two languages, -popularly, if not scientifically, regarded as distinct:—almost the exact -number which F. Bresciani ascribes to him; that of these he spoke with -freedom, and with a purity of accent, of vocabulary, and of idiom, rarely -attained by foreigners, no fewer than thirty; that he was intimately -acquainted with all the leading dialects of these; that he spoke less -perfectly, (or rather is not shown to have possessed the same mastery -of) nine others, in all of which, however, his pronunciation, at least, -is described as quite perfect; that he could, (and occasionally did,) -converse in eleven other languages, but with what degree of accuracy it -is difficult to say; that he could at least initiate a conversation, -and exchange certain conversational forms in eight others; and that he -had studied the structure and the elementary vocabularies of fourteen -others. As regards the languages included in the latter categories, it -is quite possible that he may also have spoken in a certain way some at -least among them. So far as I have learned, there is no evidence that he -actually did speak any of them: but with him there was little perceptible -interval between knowledge of the elementary structure and vocabulary of -a language, and the power of conversing in it. - -Such is the astounding result to which the united evidence of this -vast body of witnesses, testifying without consent, and indeed for -the most part utterly unknown to each other, appears irresistibly to -lead. I am far, I confess, from accepting in their strict letter many -of the rhetorical expressions of these writers—the natural result of -warm admiration, however just and well founded. I do not believe, for -example, that in each and all the thirty languages enumerated in the -first category, the Cardinal actually spoke, as some of the witnesses -say, “with all the purity and propriety of a native;” that he could not -in any one of them “be recognized as a foreigner;” or that, in them -all, he “spoke without the slightest trace of peculiar accent.” On the -contrary, I know that, in several of these, he made occasional trips. -I do not overlook the “four minor mistakes” in his German conversation -with Dr. Tholuck; nor his occasionally “forgetting the marked _l_ in his -Polish,” nor the criticism of his manner in several other languages, -as “formed rather from books than from conversation.” Neither do I -believe that he had mastered the _entire_ vocabulary of each of these -languages. Nor shall I even venture to say to what point his knowledge -of the several vocabularies extended. So far from shutting out from my -judgment the drawbacks on the undiscriminating praise heaped upon the -Cardinal by some of his biographers, which these criticisms imply, I -regard them as (by recalling it from the realm of legend,) forming the -best and most secure foundation of a reputation which, allowing for every -drawback, far transcends all that the world has ever hitherto known. -I do not say that in all these languages, or perhaps in any of them, -Cardinal Mezzofanti was the perfect paragon which some have described -him; but, reverting to the standard with which I set out, I cannot -hesitate to infer from these united testimonies, that his knowledge of -each and every one of the leading languages of the world, ancient and -modern, fully equalled, and in several of these languages excelled, the -knowledge of those who are commonly reputed as accomplished linguists in -the several languages, even when they have devoted their attention to -the study of one or other of these languages exclusively. I do not say -that he was _literally faultless_ in speaking these languages; nor that -what I have said is literally true of _each and every one_ of the thirty -that have been enumerated: but, if the attestations recorded in this -volume have any meaning, they lead to the inevitable conclusion, that in -the power of speaking the languages in which he was best tried,—whether -Hebrew, or Arabic, or Armenian, or Persian, or Turkish, or Albanese, -or Maltese, or Greek, or Romaic, or Latin, or Italian, or Spanish, or -Portuguese, or French, or Swedish, or Danish, or Dutch, or Flemish, or -English, or Russian, or Bohemian, or Magyar, or Chinese;—his success is -entirely beyond suspicion, and will bear comparison with that of the most -accomplished non-native masters of these languages, even those who have -confined themselves to one or two of the number. For the few languages -upon which I myself may presume to speak, I most unhesitatingly adopt -this conclusion, comparing my recollections of the Cardinal with those -I retain of almost any other foreigner whom I have ever heard speak the -same languages. - -The reader’s recollection of the attainments of the most remarkable -linguists enumerated in the memoir prefixed to this biography will enable -him, therefore, to see how immeasurably Cardinal Mezzofanti transcends -them all. Taking the very highest estimate which has been offered of -their attainments, the list of those reputed to have possessed more -than ten languages is a very short one. Only four—Mithridates, Pico -of Mirandola, Jonadab Alhanar, and Sir William Jones—are said, in the -loosest sense, to have passed the limit of twenty. To the first two fame -ascribes twenty-two, to the last two twenty-eight languages. Müller, -Niebuhr, Fulgence Fresnel, and perhaps Sir John Bowring, are usually set -down as knowing twenty languages. For Elihu Burritt, Csoma de Körös, -their admirers claim eighteen. Renaudot, the controversialist, is said -to have known seventeen, Professor Lee sixteen, and the attainments of -the older linguists, as Arias Montamus, Martin del Rio, the converted -Rabbi Libertas Cominetus, the Admirable Crichton—are said to have ranged -from this down to ten or twelve—most of them the ordinary languages of -learned and of polite society. It is further to be observed that in no -one of those cases has the evidence been examined, the trustworthiness -of the witnesses considered, or the degrees of knowledge of the various -languages ascertained. Whatever of doubt rests even upon the vaguest -statements regarding Mezzofanti, applies with double force in every one -of the above instances. - -But even putting these considerations aside, and accepting the estimates -upon the showing of the parties themselves or their admirers, how far -does the very highest of them fall short of what has been demonstrated of -Cardinal Mezzofanti! - - * * * * * - -II. On the curious question as to the system pursued by the Cardinal -in the study of languages, I regret to say that little light seems now -obtainable. The variety of systems employed by students is endless. -The eccentric linguist, Roberts Jones, described in the Introductory -Memoir, as soon as he had an opportunity of comparing the vocabulary of -a new language with those which he had already studied, proceeded by -_striking out of it_ all those words which were common to it with any of -the languages already familiar to him, and then impressing on his memory -_the words which remained_. M. Antoine d’Abbadie told me that, in the -unwritten languages with which he had to deal, his plan was to write -out, with the aid of an interpreter, a list of about five hundred of the -leading and most indispensable words, and a few conversational forms; and -then to complete his stock of words “by the assistance of _an intelligent -child who knew no language but the one which he was studying_;—because -children best understand, and most readily apprehend, an imperfectly -conveyed meaning.” Some students commence with the vocabulary; others, -with the structural forms of a language. With some the process is tedious -and full of labour: others proceed with almost the rapidity of intuition. -In comparing the various possible systems, it has not unnaturally -been supposed that the process which, in Cardinal Mezzofanti, led to -results so rapid and so extraordinary, might be usefully applied, at -least in some modified form, to the practical study of languages, even -on that modest scale in which they enter into ordinary education. But -unfortunately, even if such a fruit could be hoped from his experience, -it does not appear that the Cardinal possessed any extraordinary secret, -or at least that he ever clearly explained to any of his visitors the -secret process, if any, which he employed. One thing at least is certain, -and should not be forgotten by those who are always on the look out for -short roads to learning, that, whatever may have been his system, and -however it may have quickened or facilitated the result for him, it did -not enable him to dispense with the sedulous and systematic use of all -the ordinary appliances of study, and especially of every available means -for the acquisition of vocabularies, and of practice in their exercise. - -It is true he told M. Libri that he found the learning of languages -“less difficult than is generally thought: that there is but a limited -number of points to which it is necessary to direct attention; and that, -when one is master of these points, the remainder follows with great -facility;” adding that, “when one has learned ten or a dozen languages -essentially different from each other, one may, with a little study and -attention, learn any number of them.” But he also stated to Dr. Tholuck -“that his own way of learning new languages was no other than that of -our school-boys, by writing out paradigms and words, and committing -them to memory.” (P. 278.) Dictionaries, reading-books, catechisms, -vocabularies, were anxiously sought by him, and industriously used. The -society and conversation of strangers was eagerly—in one less modest -and simple it might almost appear obtrusively—courted, and turned to -advantage. A constant and systematic habit of translation and composition -both in prose and verse was maintained. In a word, nothing can be -clearer than that with Mezzofanti, as with the humblest cultivators of -the same study, the process of acquiring each new language was, if not -slow, at least laborious; and that, with all his extraordinary gifts, -the eminence to which he attained, is in great part to be attributed to -his own almost unexampled energy, and to the perseverance with which he -continued to cultivate these gifts to the very latest day of his life. -He understood thoroughly, as all who have ever attained to eminence -have understood, the true secret of study—economical and systematic -employment of time. The great jurist D’Aguesseau composed one of his -most valuable works in the scraps of time which he was able to save -from his wife’s unpunctuality in the hour of dinner. Mezzofanti made it -a rule, even amid his most frequent and most distracting occupations, -to turn to account every chance moment in which he was released from -actual pressure. No matter how brief or how precarious the interval, his -books and papers were generally at hand. And even when no such appliance -of study were within reach his active and self-concentrated mind was -constantly engaged. He possessed a rare power of self-abstraction, by -which he was able to concentrate all his faculties upon any language -which he desired to pursue, to the exclusion of all the others that he -knew. In this respect he was entirely independent of books. When the -great mathematician, Euler, became blind, he was able to form the most -complicated diagrams, and to resolve the most intricate calculations, in -his mind. Every one has heard, too, of cases like that of the prisoner -described by Pope:— - - Who, locked from ink and paper, scrawls - With desperate charcoal on his darkened walls. - -But Mezzofanti’s power of mental study was even more wonderful. He -had the habit of _thinking when alone, in each and all of his various -languages_ in succession; so that, without the presence of a second -individual, he almost enjoyed the advantage of practice in conversation! -The only parallel for this extraordinary mental phenomenon that I know, -is a story which I have somewhere read, of a musician who attained to -great perfection as an instrumental performer, although hardly ever known -to touch an instrument for the purpose of practice. This man, it is said, -was _constantly practising in his mind_; and his fingers were actually -observed to be always in motion, as though engaged in the act of playing. - -On the other hand, it is certain that Mezzofanti’s power of acquiring -languages was mainly a gift of nature. It is not easy to say in what this -natural gift consisted. Among the faculties of the mind chiefly employed -in acquiring language—perception, analysis, judgment, and memory—by some -it has been placed in his intuitive quickness of perception—by others -in his memory—and by others, in his power of analysing the leading -inflexional and structural characteristics by which each language is -distinguished. Others place it in some mysterious delicacy of his -ear, which detected in each language a sort of rhythm or systematic -structure, and thus supplied a key to all its forms. But no one of these -characteristics, taken singly, even in its very highest development, will -account for a success so entirely unexampled. Almost all great linguists, -it is true, have been remarkable for their powers of memory; but there -are many examples of such memory, unaccompanied by any very peculiar -excellence in the gift of languages. Still less can it be ascribed -exclusively to any quickness of perception, or any perfection of analytic -or synthetic power. Perhaps there is no form in which these powers are so -wondrously displayed, as in the curious phenomena of mental arithmetic. -And yet I am not aware that any of the extraordinary mental calculators -has been distinguished as a linguist. On the contrary, many of them have -been singularly deficient in this respect. Mr. George Bidder, one of the -latest, and in many respects most creditable, examples of this faculty, -confesses his entire deficiency in talent for literature or language; and -Zachariah Dase, whose performances as a calculator almost exceeded all -belief, could never master a word of any foreign language except a little -German. - -But in Cardinal Mezzofanti we meet not only each of these qualities, but -a most perfect and perfectly balanced union of them all. His memory in -itself would have made him an object of wonder. Quick and tenacious to a -degree certainly not inferior to any recorded example of the faculty, it -was one of the most universal in its application of which any record is -preserved; embracing every variety of subject—not alone the vocabularies -and forms which he acquired, but every kind of matter to which it was -directed; history, poetry, and even persons and personal occurrences. But -there was, above all, one characteristic in which it was distinguished -from almost all other memories. Some of those qualities already named -were possessed by other individuals in an equal, if not a greater or more -striking, degree. Henderson, the player, was said to be able to repeat -the greater part of the most miscellaneous contents of a newspaper after -a single reading; and the mental arithmetician just named, Zachariah -Dase, after _dipping_ his eye over a row of twelve figures, could repeat -them backwards and forwards, and in every other order, and could multiply -them instantaneously by one or two figures at pleasure. Some memories -too possessed this faculty entirely independent of the judgment or the -reasoning powers. Père Menestrier was able to repeat a long jumble of -unmeaning names after hearing them but once, and the young Corsican -mentioned by Padre Menocchio could do the same, even after the lapse of -an entire year! But the perfection of Mezzofanti’s memory was different -from all these, and consisted in its _extraordinary readiness_. Sir W. -Hamilton, in one of his notes on Reid, happily reviving an old view of -Aristotle, distinguishes between _memory_ (μνημή) and _reminiscence_, -(ἀνάμνησις)—between spontaneous and elaborated memory—memory of -intuition, and memory of evolution. In Mezzofanti the latter hardly -appears to have had a place. His memory seems to have acted by intuition -alone. It was not only a rare capacity for storing up and retaining the -impressions once made upon it, no matter how rapid and how various, but a -power of holding them _distinct from each other_, and ready for instant -use. And thus, over the vast and various assortment of vocabularies -which he possessed, he enjoyed a control so complete, that he would -draw upon each and all at pleasure, as the medium for the expression of -his thoughts;—just as the experimentalist, by the shifting of a slide, -can change, instantaneously and at will, the colour of the light with -which he illuminates the object of exhibition. Dugald Stewart tells the -case of a young woman who could repeat an entire sermon after a single -hearing, and whose sole trick of memory consisted in connecting in her -mind each part of the discourse with a part of the ceiling. It would -almost seem as if the memory of Mezzofanti had some such local division -into compartments, in which the several vocabularies _could_, as it were, -_be stored apart_, and through which his mind could range at pleasure, -culling from each the objects or words which it desired, no matter how -various or how unconnected with each other. - -With such a memory as this to guide its action, and to supply the -material for its operation, the extraordinary and almost intuitive power -of analysis—something in its own order like what Wollaston called in -William Phillips, the “mathematical sense”—which Mezzofanti possessed, -and which enabled him at once to seize upon the whole system of a -language—form, structure, idiom, genius, spirit—led by a process which it -is easy to understand, to the wonderful results which this great linguist -accomplished. Memory supplied the material with unfailing abundance and -regularity. The analytic faculties were the tools which the mind employed -in operating upon the material thus supplied for the use. - -Such appears to have been the mental process. But for the practical power -of speaking the languages thus mastered in theory, Mezzofanti was also -indebted to his singularly quick and delicate organization of ear and -tongue. It might seem that the former of these organs could only enter -as a very subordinate element, and in a purely mechanical way, into -the faculty of speech. Indeed the French journals of the past month, -(February, 1858,) contain an account of a deaf and dumb man, M. Moser, -who (of course entirely unaided by ear,) has mastered, besides Greek and -Latin, no fewer than fourteen modern languages. But, strange as this may -seem, it is certain that in Mezzofanti’s case the ear, in addition to -its direct and natural use in comprehending and catching up the sounds -of languages, and appreciating all their delicate varieties and shades, -(in which it is admitted to have been ready and infallible beyond all -precedent,) had a nobler, and as it were, more intellectual function; -that its office was a thing of mind as well as of organization; that he -possessed, as it were, _an inner and higher sense_, distinct from the -_material organ_; and that the impressions which this sense conveyed, -helped him to the structure and the philosophical character of language, -as well as to its rhythm, its vocal sounds, and its peculiar intonations. -It is difficult to explain the exact mental operation, by which this -curious result was attained; but the Cardinal himself repeatedly declared -his consciousness of such an operation, and ascribed to it, in a great -degree, the rapidity and the ease with which he overcame what to others -form the main difficulty in the study of a language, and with which, -having once made the first step in each language, he mastered, as if by -intuition, all the mysteries of its structural system. - -Another element of his wonderful talent was his genuine enthusiasm -and the unpretending simplicity of his character. “Pretension,” says -Emerson, “may sit still, but cannot act.” There was no pretension about -Mezzofanti; nor had he anything of that morbid intellectual sensitiveness -which shrinks from the first blunders to which a novice in a foreign -language is exposed, and which restrains many from the attempt to speak, -by the very apprehension of failure.[571] Children, as is well known, -learn to speak a language more rapidly than their elders. I cannot doubt -that Mezzofanti’s child-like simplicity and innocence, were among the -causes of his wonderful success as a speaker of many tongues. - - * * * * * - -It was not to be expected that a man so eminent in one absorbing pursuit -should have made a very distinguished figure in general literature or -science. Among the many laudatory reports of him which are contained -in this volume, a few will be found which hardly concede to him even a -second-rate place as a scholar, still less as a philologer. In some of -the literary circles of Rome, Mezzofanti was not popular. M. Libri[572] -alludes to one source of unfriendly feeling in his regard. There is -another which may perhaps have already struck the reader. From some of -the facts noticed in the Introductory Memoir of German linguists[573] -and from other incidental allusions, the reader will have observed a -certain tendency on the part of philologers to depreciate the pursuit of -linguists, and to undervalue its usefulness; and it is precisely from -the philologers that this low estimate of Mezzofanti proceeds. It is -only just, however, to Baron Bunsen, who is pre-eminently the head of -the German school of that science, to admit that he carefully draws the -distinction between the two branches of the study of language—that of the -linguist, and that of the philologer. And although the natural preference -which a student unconsciously gives to his own favourite pursuit, no -doubt leads him to attach little value to what Mezzofanti knew, and to -dwell more on what in his opinion he did not know, yet it must be said -that he gives him full credit for his unexampled power as a linguist. - -The Baron’s recollections, nevertheless, contain a summary of the -strictures upon the literary character of Mezzofanti, which were current -during his lifetime—that his learning was merely superficial—that in the -phrase of the late Mr. Francis Hare, “with the keys of the knowledge of -every nation in his hand, he never unlocked their real treasures;” that -in all the countless languages which he spoke he “never said anything;” -that he left no work or none of any value behind him; that he was utterly -ignorant of philology; that his theology was mere scholasticism; that -he had no idea of Biblical criticism, and that even as a critical Greek -scholar, he was very deficient. - -It would be a very mistaken zeal for the honour of Cardinal Mezzofanti -to deny the literal truth of several of these criticisms. Most of the -branches of knowledge in which he is here represented as deficient, are -in themselves the study of an ordinary life. To have added them all to -what he really did possess, would have been a marvel far exceeding the -greatest wonder that has ever been ascribed to him; nor was any one -more ready than the modest Cardinal himself, not merely to admit many -particulars in which his learning was defective, but even to disparage -the learning which he actually possessed. He confessed over and over -again, that he was no philologer—that he was nothing but “an ill bound -dictionary.” He expressed his regret to Guido Görres, that he had begun -his studies at a time when this science was not cultivated. He lamented -the weakness of his chest and other constitutional infirmities, which -prevented him from writing. He deplored to Cardinal Wiseman, that, when -he should be gone, he would have left behind him no trace of what he knew. - -But, notwithstanding his own modest estimate of himself, I think enough -will be found in the testimonies of many unsuspected witnesses embodied -in this Memoir, to shew that the depreciating strictures, to which I have -here alluded, are grievously exaggerated. Cardinal Mezzofanti certainly -was not a scientific philologer; but the Abbé Gaume’s memorandum proves -that, while he had little taste for the mere speculative part of the -subject—for those - - Cloud-built towers by ghostly masons wrought, - On shadowy thoroughfares of thought— - -he was fully sensible of the true use of the science, and had not -neglected the study, especially in its most important aspect—its bearing -upon religious history. He was not a professed archæologist. He may have -failed in the interpretation of the particular Greek inscription, to -which Baron Bunsen refers; nor did he pursue Greek criticism as a special -study. But his friends Cavedoni and Laureani, themselves accomplished -archæologists, entertained the highest respect for his judgment in that -study. The Abate Matranga bore ample witness to the depth and accuracy -of his Greek scholarship; and I myself, in the few observations which I -heard him offer on the Eugubian inscriptions, was struck by the sagacity, -the precision, and the suggestive spirit which they evinced. - -Far more unjust, however, are Mr. Hare’s remark about the keys, and the -still more disparaging saying, quoted by Baron Bunsen, which describes -Mezzofanti as, “with all his forty-two languages, never saying anything.” -The numberless reports of visitors at every period of his life, from Mr. -Stewart Rose, in 1817, downwards, which are detailed in this volume, put -entirely beyond question both his capacity and his actual attainments -in general literature. Each visitor, for the most part, found him well -acquainted with the literature of his own country. Very many of them -(as Baron Glucky de Stenitzer for Hungary[574]) bear witness to his -familiarity with their national histories. His conversation with M. -Libri, “on the most difficult points in the history of India,” evinced a -mind of a very different calibre from what these supercilious criticisms -suppose: and, from the historian of the Mathematical Sciences, it is no -ordinary compliment towards one with whom these can have been but a -subordinate study, that, without a moment’s preparation, (the subject -having been only casually introduced by M. Libri,) he “spoke for -half-an-hour on the astronomy and mathematics of the Indian races, in -a manner which would have done honour to a man whose chief occupation -had been tracing the history of the sciences.”[575] I must dissent -strongly, also, from the disparaging opinion that M. Bunsen expresses -as to the Cardinal’s capacity for the more strictly professional -sciences of Biblical criticism and Theology. M. Bunsen, no doubt, when -he speaks of Biblical criticism, speaks mainly of the German School of -that science, and very probably of the last and most popular critic, -Lachmann. Now, with all their merits, there is much in the spirit and -the language of many of these writers, and, I may specially say, of -Lachmann, against which Mezzofanti’s whole mind would have revolted; and -I can well understand that, between his opinions and those of the Baron -regarding them, there would have been but little sympathy. But it is -most unjust to Mezzofanti to say that “he had no idea” of the subject. -One of his earliest literary friends was the great Biblical scholar and -critic, De Rossi. While he was still professor at Bologna, the Abate -Cavedoni, of Modena, spoke with high praise of his ability as a biblical -critic. The Abate Mellini, professor of Scripture in Bologna, gratefully -acknowledges the assistance which he derived from him in reference to the -versions of the Bible: and Cardinal Wiseman, who will not be suspected -of undervaluing any branch of Biblical science, told me that, although -it is quite true that Mezzofanti had no love for the German critics, -and though he never was a professed critic himself, he was nevertheless -quite conversant with the science, and understood its history and its -principles, and the divisions of MMS., recensions, families, &c., -perfectly well. - -As to Theology, his reputation in Rome was not high. Yet his attainments, -especially in moral theology, were considered respectable. The readers -of Sir W. Hamilton will not look on the charge of “scholasticism” as any -very grave disparagement; but I must add that neither did Mezzofanti -neglect the modern divines, even those outside of Italy. With Guido -Görres he spoke of Möhler’s well-known _Symbolik_, although it was at -that period but little known beyond the limits of Germany. - -As a preacher, Mezzofanti, though earnest and impressive, never was -in any way remarkable. He confined himself chiefly to the duty of -catechetical instruction; and in Rome his only efforts as a preacher, -were the short and simple exhortations addressed to children at the time -of admitting them to their first Communion—a duty of the ministry which -was especially dear to him. - -The truth is, that all these criticisms of Mezzofanti, and the -impressions as to the superficial character of his acquirements which -they embody, have emanated for the most part from casual visitors, who -saw him but for a brief space, and whose opportunity of testing his -knowledge was probably limited to a few questions and answers, in a -language not his own; the main object of the visit being, not to sound -the depth or accuracy of his knowledge in itself, but merely the fluency -and correctness of his manner of speaking the language in which the -visitor desired to try him. Whereas, on the contrary, those who bear -witness to the solidity of his information and the vast range of his -knowledge, are those who knew him long and intimately; who met him as a -friend and companion, not as an object of curiosity, and of wonder; and -whose estimate of him was founded upon the impressions of familiar and -every-day intercourse—the only safe test of character or of acquirements. - - * * * * * - -There is more truth in the strictures upon Mezzofanti as a writer. In -this respect, indeed, he is known very little; for his only published -composition, the Panegyric of Father Aponte, and the fugitive poetical -exercises in the appendix of this Memoir, can hardly be said to place him -in the category of authors. Unhappily, indeed, the spirit of authorship -is, with many, a question rather of temperament than of ability. In some -it is the very breath of their life—an actual necessity of existence. To -others it is a barren and ungrateful labour—undertaken with reluctance, -and pursued without satisfaction. Southey used to say, that he never -felt fully master of himself and of all his unclouded faculties, till -he found himself seated at his desk. The current of his thoughts never -flowed freely except through his pen. On the contrary, Magliabecchi—the -living library—the _helluo librorum_—never could prevail on himself to -publish a single line! Unfortunately for science, Mezzofanti was of the -latter class. Partly from constitutional delicacy, and especially from -weakness of the chest, the effort of writing was to him irksome and -even injurious. Partly too, no doubt, the same constitutional tendency -of mind which rendered speaking easy and attractive, indisposed him for -the more toilsome—to him positively distressing—mode of communicating -his thoughts by writing. Except for the purposes of private study, -therefore, he seldom wrote more than some fugitive piece; and, even -when he was prevailed on to write at greater length, he was seldom -sufficiently satisfied with his own performances to permit them to be -made public. Several, even of these essays which were read by him in the -learned societies of Bologna and Rome, are known to have been destroyed -by himself before his death; including some which, from their title -and subject, might naturally have been expected to afford some insight -into the character of his mind, and his capacity for dealing with the -philosophy of language. - -Accordingly, the small figure which he made as a writer, and the little -trace which he has left behind him of the vast stores of languages -which he had laid up during life, have led to an undue depreciation -of his career, as objectless and unprofitable, whether to himself or -to his fellow-men. Whatever be the truth of this estimate, no one was -more painfully sensible of it than the Cardinal himself. Many of his -expressions of regret have been already recorded; but only those who knew -him intimately, could know the depth and sincerity of his repinings. -Still, although it is not possible to avoid sharing in this regret, he -would be very exacting, indeed, and would set up for himself a very -terrible standard whereby to judge his own conduct, who could venture to -pronounce such a career as Mezzofanti’s empty or unprofitable. Even if -we put aside entirely the consideration of his literary life, and test -him by the rules of personal duty alone, the life of Cardinal Mezzofanti -was a model of every virtue of the Christian and of the priest. Devout -almost to scrupulousness, sincerely humble, simple in his habits, modest -and unexacting in his own person, but spending himself unhesitatingly -in the service of others; courteous, amiable, affectionate, warm in his -friendships, he was known only to be loved, and he never forfeited a -friendship which he once had formed. His benevolence was of the true -Christian stamp—not a mere unreflecting impulse, but a sustained and -systematic love of his fellow creatures. Although his charity was of the -tenderest and most melting kind—although in truth, like Goldsmith’s Vicar, - - His pity gave, ere charity began— - -although his alms, limited as were his means, were so prodigal as -to earn for him the sobriquet of _Monsignor Limosiniere_, “_My Lord -Almoner_;”—yet it would be a great mistake to measure his benevolence -by the actual extent of poverty which it relieved, or of the assistance -it administered. His active spirit grasped every detail of this work of -God—the care of the sick, the instruction of the young, the edification -and enlightenment of the stranger;—nay, the very courtesies of social -intercourse had for him all the sacred significance of a duty; and, while -he never offended the sensibility of his companions by unseasonably -obtruding over-serious conversation, yet he never lost sight, even in -his lightest hours, of the obligation of good example and edification -which his position and character imposed upon him. - -And as regards the great pursuit of his literary life, which some have -presumed to deny as “empty word-knowledge,” and unprofitable display, it -must never be forgotten—even though we should be content to judge its -value by the selfish standard of mere utility—that, for himself, one of -its earliest and most attractive, as well as most endearing sources of -interest, lay in the opportunity which it afforded him for the exercise -of his sacred ministry and the only less sacred offices of charity and -humanity; that many of its most precious acquisitions were gathered in -these very exercises of religion and of benevolence; that his usual text -books in each new language were the catechism and the Bible; and that his -favourite theatre for the display of his gifts were the sick wards of the -hospitals of Bologna, the Santo Spirito or the House of Catechumens at -Rome, and the halls and _camerate_ of the great Missionary College of the -Propaganda. - -For myself, I cannot envy the moral and intellectual utilitarianism, -which pauses to measure by so paltry a standard a great psychological -phenomenon, such as Nature, in the most prodigal exercise of her powers, -has never before given to man to see. As well might we shut our eyes -to the glory of those splendid meteors which at intervals illumine the -sky, because we are unable to see what cold and sordid purpose of human -utility they may be made to subserve. - -I prefer to look to him with grateful and affectionate admiration, as -a great example of the successful cultivation of one of the noblest of -God’s gifts to His creatures;—as the man who has approached nearest -to the withdrawal of that barrier to intercommunion of speech which, -in punishment of human pride, was set up at Babel; and of whom, more -literally than of any other son of Adam, it may be said, that he could - - Hold converse with all forms - Of the many-sided mind. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -[Allusion is made, more than once, in this volume, to Cardinal -Mezzofanti’s habit of amusing himself and his friends by writing short -metrical pieces in various languages, and of composing or correcting -the odes recited by the pupils at the annual Polyglot Academy of the -Propaganda. In the absence of other data for judging of his skill as a -linguist, these fragments, trifling though they be, are of considerable -interest; and I had hopes of being able to form a little collection of -them, as a contribution to the enquiry regarding him. Unfortunately my -search for these remains, trivial and fugitive as most of them must have -been, has been very unsuccessful. I am only able to add a few to those -which appear in the sheet of fac-similes, or which have been already -incidentally introduced in the course of the narrative. - -The short pieces recited at the Propaganda Academy, being the property of -the pupils themselves, are not preserved in the college archives. I have -only succeeded in obtaining four of these pieces:—two from Rome, a Greek -Anacreontic Ode, and a couple of stanzas in the Grisons dialect; and -two in Angolese from the Rev. Charles Fernando, Missionary Apostolic in -Ceylon. - -The Abbate Mazza, Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Seminary at Bologna, has -kindly sent me a Hebrew Psalm addressed by Mezzofanti, as a tribute on -his Jubilee (or the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as a priest), -to his old friend and master, Father Emmanuel Aponte; and a Latin -Hexameter Poem, descriptive of St. Peter’s Church at Rome, recited by him -in the _Accademia degli Arcadi_, on his being elected a member of that -body. - -These little pieces, it need hardly be said, are offered merely as -specimens of Mezzofanti’s power as a linguist, and not as possessing any -striking excellence, whether of poetry or sentiment. It is only just to -his memory to add that, judging from his well-known habit of composition, -they may all be presumed to be literally _impromptu_, and are entitled to -the full indulgence usually accorded to such productions.] - - -I. _Hebrew Psalm,[576] addressed to Father Emmanuel Aponte—on the -fiftieth anniversary of his ordination._ - - לסיוף מהזופאנתי - - א. שמך עמנואל שס טוב כשמן תורף ץל כן רצו נץריﬦ ואהיבוך וזקניﬦ - גם המה בקשו חכמה שפתיך - - ב. מה גאוו צל צייﬦ רגליך מבשר משמיץ משמיץ שלוס מבשר טוב משמיץ - ישוץה - - ג. אור גגה בארצסו בץﬨ באך ממזרת מאז הגדלת השמחה והרביﬨ דץﬨ - ומוםר נﬨﬨ לרﬥ דורשי בינה ואור פני אדני בכל מץשיך ראו ץינינו - - ד. הנה היום החלפת כנשר לבוא משכנות אדגי ואחרי חמישים שנﬣ תוצא - עוד לחם ויין כהן לאל ץליון כהן ץולם ץל דברתי מלכיצדך - - ה. לכו נננו לארנדי ﬨשוץה לעור ישץנו כי התלה זקן טוכ חסיד לו - לגשת אליו לכהן להתפלל לפניו ולכתר ץןיגו - - ו. גתת ארני לעמגואל חן וכבוד כי ﬣלך בתמים למד חןכמה ועאה עדק - - ז. וץﬨה לנך אזנך אלהיﬦ מלך הכבור ץנה עבדיך תלמידי זקן טוב תן לו - ארך ומיﬦ ורצון וברכה תעטרהו - -Transcriber’s Note: A better version might be: - - ליוסף מהזופאנתי - - א. שמך עמנואל שם טוב כשמן תורק על כן רצו נערים ואהיבוך וזקנים - גם המה בקשו חכמה שפתיך - - ב. מה גאוו על איים רגליך מבשר משמיע משמיע שלום מבשר טוב משמיע - ישועה - - ג. אור נגה בארצנו בעת באך ממזרח מאז הגדלת השמחה והרבית דעה - ומוסר נתת לכל דורשי בינה ואור פני אדני בכל מעשיך ראו עינינו - - ד. הנה היום החלפת כנשר לבוא משכנות אדגי ואחרי חמישים שנה תוצא - עוד לחם ויין כהן לאל עליון כהן עולם על דברתי מלכיצדך - - ה. לכו רננו לאדני תשועה לצור ישענו כי הפלה זקן טוב חסיד לו לגשת - אליו לכהן להתפלל לפניו ולכפר עלינו - - ו. נתת אדני לעמגואל חן וכבוד כי הלך בתמים למד חכמה ועאה עדק - - ז. ועתה לנך אזנך אלהים מלך הכבוד ענה עבדיך תלמידי זקן טוב תן לו - ארך יומים ורצון וברכה תעטרהו - -_Latin Translation._ - - Josephus Mezzofanti. - - 1. Nomen tuum, Emanuel, nomen bonum, sicut oleum effusum, - propterea excurrerunt adolescentes, et dilexerunt te. Et senes - ipsi quoque quæsierunt sapientiam labiorum tuorum, - - 2. Quam speciosi fuerunt in insulis pedes tui, evangelizans - predicator! prædicans pacem, evangelizans bonum, prædicans - salutem! - - 3. Luxfulsit in terra nostra, quando venisti ab oriente: ex - eo tempore magnificasti lætitiam et multiplicasti scientiam, - et eruditionem dedisti omnibus quærentibus intelligentiam; et - lumen vultus Domini in omnibus operibus tuis viderunt oculi - nostri. - - 4. Ecce hodie innovas te sicut aquila, ut intres in habitacula - Domini: et post quinquaginta annos profers adhuc panem et - vinum, sacerdos Dei Altissimi, sacerdos in eternum secundum - ordinem Melchisedec. - - 5. Venite exultemus Domino, jubilemus petræ salutis nostræ; - quia segregavit senem bonum sanctum sibi, ut accederet ad - eum, ut fungeretur sacerdotio, ut ovaret ante faciem ejus, ut - propitiaret super nos. - - 6. Dedisti Domine Emanueli gratiam et gloriam, quia ambulavit - in integritate, docuit sapientiam, et operatus est justitiam. - - 7. Nunc ergo inclina aurem tuam, Deus Rex Gloriæ! Exaudi servos - tuos, discipulos senis boni! Da illi longitudinem dierum et - beneplacito ac benedictione corona his illum! - - -II. _Greek Anacreontie Ode “On the Adoration of the Shepherds,” composed -for the Propaganda Academy._ - - Ὁ καιρὸς ἦλθεν ᾔδη - Ὁν εἵσαν οἱ προφήται· - Υἱος δ’ ὁ του Θέοῖο - Ἐξ ουρανῶν κατήλθεν, - Ἱνα βροτους σαὤσῃ. - Αύτὸς δ’ Ἄναξ ἀνάκτων, - Ἐκ Παρθένου γενητὸς, - Θρόνον Θεῳ πρέποντα, - Οὐκ εἶχεν, ἄλλὰ φάτνον. - Ὁ δ’ Ἄγγελος παραστάς - Τοἶς ποιμεδιν, διδάσει - Ὡς κόσμου ἤλθ’ ὁ Σωτήρ. - Oἱ δ’ εὐθεώς λαβόντες - Δῶρα βρέφει φέεουσι, - Χάριν δ’ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ εὖρον. - Πένης δ’ ὅλως ἅμ’ ἆυτοίς - Ἀμνὸν τὸν εἶχε μοῦνον - Ἤνεγκε τῴ Νεογνῷ. - Ὁ Παῖς ὁρᾷ τὸν ὰμνόν, - Καί προζγελᾲ διδόντι. - Τὶ τότ’; Ἔγνω γἕρ αὑτου - Τῦπὸν—Θεοῦ περ αὐτός - Ὁ πρᾶος ἐστίν ἀμνός - Ἁμαρτίας ἀφαιρὡν - Tόυ κόσμου—Αμνὲ, χαἶρε! - Ἄρον δ’ ἁμαρτίας μου! - Ἄρον—χάριν τε δός μοι! - - -III. _Latin Hexameter Poem, recited in the Arcadian Academy at Rome._ - - J. M. - PASTOR ARCAS. - - Romuleas Arces, fulgentia Templa Tonantis - Quae fuerant dudum, conscendo munere vestro, - Arcades; et celsas sedes teneo, Arcas et ipse, - Et parvi custos nemoris. Sed non ego doctus, - Aut calamos inflare leves, aut dicere versus; - At geminare sonos gaudens, et reddere voces, - Quas longinqua edit gens, aut contermina nostræ. - - Hic adsum, florens postquam est exacta juventa, - Temporaque adventans mihi tardior inficit aetas, - Adsumus hic, patriosque lares, et linquimus arva, - Pinguia quæ Rheni preterfluit unda minoris: - Linquimus et colles, varium queis Daedala tellus - Submittit florem et vites—tua munera, Bacche! - Linquimus et turres, quarum altera celsa minatur - In cœlum, impendit præfracto vertice flexa - Altera, nutanti similis jam jamque ruenti. - Adsumus hic tandem, Eumetes[577] cum tempora vittâ - Tergeminâ redimit, cœlique oracula promit. - Scilicet hic nobis suprema e sede benignus, - Annuit. Æternam tum nos advenimus Urbem. - - Hic vestra assidue lustrans decora alta, Quirites, - Quaeque recens tulit, et quæ prisci temporis aetas. - Vocibus hæc refero, “Vos terque, quaterque beati, - Non peritura quibus vulgata est fama per orbem!” - Eximia at quoties cerno heic monumenta virorum, - Felsina quos aluit, quosve extulit infula Petri, - Quive aedes vestras decorant et Templa, Quirites, - Tunc animus nobis patriæ exardescit amore! - Dulcia tune nostrum pertentant gaudia pectus! - - Tum Templum ingressus, quo nil præstantius aevis, - Praeteritis vidit Sol, aspicietque futuris, - Admiror molem ingentem, artificumque labores, - En mihi spectanti fulget morientis imago, - Mira senis,[578] sapiens qui dia volumina pandit! - Aspice, ut in genua is procumbens corpore toto, - Brachia demittit, languentia lumina torquet, - Et capit extrema, eternae sed pabula vitæ, - Illic cerne modo, ut malo suspenditur alto, - Saevi qui morbi contagia depulit Urbe! - Hinc miles validis incurvat viribus arcum, - Atque hinc acer equus permissis fertur habenis:— - Diffugiunt matres, puerique, ignobile vulgus;— - Ast Heros ad cœlum ardentia lumina tendit, - Dicenti similis:—“Nostrum accipe, Christe, cruorem!” - Protinus en Michael exerto devolat ense,[579] - Ac monstrum horrendum sub tristia Tartara mittit, - Parte alia occubuit cœlesti percita amore, - Et volat ad superos virgo de germine Petri![580] - - Hæc præclara artis miracula, Felsina prodis, - In tua cum varios inducis vela colores! - Sed quinam effulgent niveo de marmore vultus! - En opus, en!—Algarde, tuum, et spirantia signa![581] - Attila hic, ille Leo: demissi nubibus instant - Et Petrus et Paulus, magnæ tutamina Romæ! - Attila terrarum metus, et squalentibus armis, - Horridus, ense ferox Martis, (sic namque putaret, - Ensem quem Pastor vitulæ vestigia læsæ, - Atra cruore sequens Scythiis invenerat agris,) - Elatosque gerens animos cœlique flage lum, - Sese compellans, sibi totum adsciverat Orbem. - Ergo suis atrox erumpit sedibus, atque - Bella ciet populis late, crudelia bella; - Omnia namque furens ferro populatur et igne; - Efferus incedit per membra fluentia tabo; - Respicit, et gaudet loca jam convulsa ruinis. - Immites primum Dacas juga ferre coegit; - Tum quoque Bistonios, dein Odrysiosque feroces; - Illyriumque; tuas exin, Germania, terras! - Illum nec Rhenus nec Gallia terret ovantem; - Pulsus, proh, remeat, pelagi ceu refluit unda! - Ocius ille domum rediit: pudor incitat iras; - Agmina dira legit, bellumque ferocius urget, - Ac nova Romanæ meditatur praelia genti. - Qualis percussus saevo leo vulnere, pugnam - Integrat, et late silvas rugitibus implet; - Talem Hunnorum Rex gestans in corde furorem, - Italiae ingreditur campos et milite complet. - Omnis humo fumat jam Aquileja; Mediolanum, - Et Verona ruunt; Ticinum et Parma fatiscunt: - Attila per medias cædes bacchatur et ignes: - Sed nihil ille actum reputat, dum Roma superstes. - Ire parat Romam: convellit signa, movetque - Agmina; cen apium ducunt examina reges! - Tunc illum miles dictis affatur amicis. - “Quo tibi nunc iter? Heu! acies Alaricus in Urbem, - Induxit;—mox ingreditur dum mænia Rhegi, - Connubiumque parat, fato decedit acerbo!” - Hæc audit, dubiusque hæret. Mox æstuat ira - Dux, movet et castra. Est eadem sententia menti, - Cum subito miserisque dolens, et cœlitus actus, - Magnus adest Leo, sacra vitta et veste decorus. - Constitit ille tremens, stupet, et vox faucibus hæret! - Verba deinde audit dulci stillantia melle; - Mitescunt animi dictis, et corda residunt. - “Attila quo cessere minæ, quo spiritus acer?” - Hæc miles. Contra Hunnorum Rex talia fatur: - “Nonne duos aetate graves atque ore severo, - Delapsos caelo spectas mortemque minantes, - Districtis gladiis? Feror hinc!—Jam tollite signa, - Et patrios fines, montes silvasque petamus:— - Mens hand illa mihi bello contendere Divis!” - Hæc ait, et nostris excedit finibus Hunnus. - Ast nullæ servant latebræ, nullique recessus, - Persequitur quos ira Dei. Namque Attila, solvit - Dum metibus sese, parat et dulces hymenæos, - Occubuit proprio suffusus nocte cruore! - Est Deus in cœlis fandi memor atque nefandi! - At Leo contendit Romam, jussitque lubentes, - Et Petro et Paulo persolvere vota Quirites; - Et Petrus et Paulus resonant per templa, per aedes! - - Felix Roma! Tibi hæc data sunt munimina cœlo! - Et dedit Eumetem mitis Deus atque benignus! - Imperat Eumetes, et pax dominabitur Orbi! - Arcades, o Petrum et Paulum celebrate canentes; - Et vestros repetent septena cacumina versus! - - Vos Petri Paulique fidem servate, Quirites! - Eternum servate fidem, servabitis Urbem! - - -IV. _Epiphany Ode in the Angolese language, written for the Academy of -1845._[582] - - He Zambi! Mubundulula, - Mubundulula coettu. - Mu Quixixi Quitombi, - Quitombi, O—vundu, - O Riala muca cuffua mucutu, - Muca! I’nhia! - Tctembuca! - Kieno ki Miscino, - Skitatu miscino, - A—ssueta a Belem, - A-beza camona, - Camona cafeli. - Nhi-bula-canu, - Una camona Zambi, - Zambi ni Riala ni, - Mubundulula via Quinixi, - Ocutanhinha u-a-gile, - Hi Riala! batessa ocutanhinha, - Beza a-camona, - A-camona cafeli, - Eyè muca muno, - - -V. _Angolese Ode for the Academy of 1846._ - - Tctembuca, Tctembuca! - I’nhai? Kieno ki, - Amona—Miscino, - Kitatu Misciso, - A-bocala monsu, - Monsu via Kian cu, - Kieno-ki! una-a-beza, - A-beza camona, - Camona cafeli. - Ah! nghi-bala cana, - Tina camona Zambi, - Monandanghi Zambi, - Mubundulula, Mobundulala, coettu! - - -VI. _Epiphany Ode in the Grisons, or Graubünden, Dialect._ - - Steila che partas legerment, - E trej reigs clomag d’alg orient, - Ti clara steila ventireila, - Meinag a Dieu l’olma fideiola! - - O Telg da Dieu! o mig salvader! - D’ilg pievelg tuttig ti ey sprindrader! - Gloria al Bab che Ti ha envian! - Piugch alg Christgang ehe Ti has trostigian! - - -VII. [The following epigram was addressed to Cardinal Lambruschini on the -appearance of his Essay on the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. It is -hardly worthy of the subject.] - - Tota es pulcra, DEI Genitrix, ab origine pulcra es! - Hoc decuit, potuit, fecit et Omnipotens. - Asserit invictus decus hoc Tibi fulgidus ostro - Auctor. Scriptorem protege, Virgo, tuum. - -The Italian version which accompanied it is much more happy. - - Tutta se’bella, o di DIO Madre; - Sin da principio bella tu sé. - Cosi addicevasi, e il Sommo Padre - Tutto potendo, cosi pur fé. - - Or Ti mantiene un tanto onore, - Chi d’ostro fulgido tra lo splendor, - A’ penna invitta di grande Autore: - Proteggi, o Vergine, il tuo Scrittor! - - -VIII. _French Stanza given to children after their First Communion._ - - Demandez an bon Dieu le don de la sagesse; - C’est le veritable trésor!—demandez-le sans cesse! - Mais it faut le chercher avec simplicité - Pour guide, mes enfans, prenant la Pieté. - - -IX. _Italian Stanza._ - - Di mille voci e mille quanto al cuore - Più soave e gradita è la parola, - Che un afflitto consola, - E l’anima solleva al Creatore! - - -X. _English verses given to an Irish student on his leaving the -Propaganda._ - - “May Christ be on your lips and heart! - Show forth by facts what words impart; - That, by sound words and good behaviour, - You may lead others to the Saviour.” - - -XI. _Written for a student._ - - O man, what is thy science?—Vanity: - And thou art nothing without charity. - - -END. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] Works I., p. 42. - -[2] Mithridates, Vol. II. Einleitung, p. 7. - -[3] See the whole legend in Huc’s Chinese Empire, II., p. 187-8. - -[4] Auswahl Historischer Stücke aus Hebräischen Schriftstellern, von den -zweiten Jahrhundert bis auf die Gegenwart, Berlin, 1840, p. 10. The book -is entitled _Pirki Rabbi Eliezer_, “The chapters of Rabbi Eliezer.” Its -date is extremely uncertain. See Moreri Dict. Hist. VII., 361. - -[5] See Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, p. 66. - -[6] According to the account of Pliny, Dioscurias, a city of Colchis (the -present Iskuriah,) was frequented for commercial purposes by no less than -_three hundred different races_; and he adds that a hundred and thirty -interpreters were employed there under the Romans (_Hist. Nat._ VI., -5. Miller’s Ed. II., 176.) The Arabian writers, Ibn Haukal and Musadi, -mention seventy-two languages which were spoken at Derbent. Strabo speaks -of twenty-six in the Eastern Caucasus alone. See _The Tribes of the -Caucasus_, p. 14, also p. 32. - -[7] Dahlmann, p. 47. It would be presumptuous to differ from so ingenious -a writer, and so profound a master of the subject which he treats; but I -may observe that there are some passages of Herodotus which seem to imply -a certain degree at least of acquaintance with Egyptian (for instance II. -79, II. 99), and with the ancient language of Persia, as IX. 100, &c. It -must be admitted, however, that a very superficial knowledge of either -language would suffice to explain these allusions. - -[8] XVII. 17. - -[9] This is not Mithridates’s only title to distinction. Perhaps it may -not be so generally known that he was equally celebrated for his powers -of eating and drinking! Athenæus tells of him that he once offered a -prize of a talent to the greatest eater in his dominions. After a full -competition the prize was awarded to Mithridates _himself_.—_Athenæus, -Deipnosoph., Book X., p. 415._ - -[10] VIII. 7. - -[11] Hist. Nat. VII. 24, and again XXV. 2. - -[12] Life of Anthony. Langhorne’s Plutarch, v. p. 182. - -[13] It was probably by some such fanciful analogy that Cecrops obtained -the name δίφυης, because he knew both Greek and Egyptian. - -[14] See a long list of examples cited by Bayle, Dict. Histor. I. 943. -The legislation on the subject, however, was not uniform; nor is it easy -to reconcile some parts of it with each other, or to understand any -general principles on which they can be founded. - -[15] Pænulus, act v., sc. 1. - -[16] With the exception of Tacitus, who claimed to be of the family of -the great historian, and made a vigorous but unsuccessful effort for the -revival of declining Latinity. - -[17] See Milman’s Latin Christianity, I., 28-9. - -[18] In some congregations, as early as the first and second century, -there were official interpreters [Ἑρμηνεύται], whose duty it was to -translate into the provincial tongues, what had been read in the church. -They resembled the interpreters of the Jewish synagogue. See Neander’s -Kirchen-Geschichte, I. 530. - -[19] Stromata, I. 276 (Paris, 1641.) - -[20] Opp. I. 326 (Paris, 1609.) Hom. in Laudem St. Basilii. - -[21] See Bayle, Dict. Historique, I. 408. It is curious that the -victorious Mussulmen at Jerusalem enacted the very opposite. No Christian -was permitted to speak the sacred language of the Koran. See Milman’s -“Latin Christianity,” II. 42, and again III. 225. It would be interesting -to examine the history of enactments of this kind, and their effects upon -the languages which they were intended to suppress,—the Norman efforts -against English, those of the English against Celtic, Joseph II’s against -Magyar, and others of the same kind. - -[22] Ep. VI. 27. - -[23] When the Patriarch Nestorius wrote to Pope Celestine his account of -the controversy now known under his name, the latter was obliged, before -he could reply, to wait till Nestorius’s letter had been translated into -Latin. Erat enim in Latinum sermo vertendus. This letter, together with -those of Cyril of Alexandria, form part of an interesting correspondence -which illustrates very strikingly the pre-eminence then enjoyed in the -Church by the Roman bishop, and is found in Hardouin’s Concilia, I. 1302. -See also Walch’s Historie der Ketzereien, V. 701. - -[24] Even Pope Vigilius himself professes his want of familiarity with -the Greek language. See his celebrated _Constitutum_ in Hardouin’s Coll. -Concil III. col. 39. - -[25] See the original in Labbe’s _Concilia_, VIII. 835. Both the original -and the translation will be found in Leibnitz’s “System of Theology,” p. -52, note. - -[26] See Milman’s Latin Christianity, IV. p. 58, and again 367. - -[27] The titles of nearly two hundred of his works are still preserved. - -[28] Rohrbacher Hist. de l’Eglise, XIX., 569. - -[29] He is the author of a History of Spain, in nine books; and besides -his very remarkable attainments as a linguist, was reputed among the most -learned scholars of his age. - -[30] See the account in Labbe, Collect. Concil. VII. 79. The writer -observes; Cum ab apostolorum tempore auditum non sit nec scriptum -reperiatur, quemque ad populum eandem concionem habuisse tot ac tam -diversis linguis cuncta exponendo. The fact is also related by Feyjoo, -Teatro critico, IV. p. 400. An interesting account of this remarkable -scholar will be found in the _Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus_ II. _pp. 149-50_. - -[31] The Family of Barbaro produced many distinguished linguists, -according to the opportunities of the time. Francesco Barbaro, born in -1398, was one of the earliest eminent Greek scholars of Italy. Ermolao, -the commentator on Aristotle, was said by the wits of his time to have -been such a purist in Greek, that he did not stop at consulting the devil -when he was at a loss for the precise meaning of a word—the much disputed -ἐντελεχέια of Aristotle!—See Bayle’s Dict. Hist. Art. _Barbaro_ I. 473. - -[32] Venice was long remarkable for her encouragement of skill in living -languages. It was a necessary qualification for most of her diplomatic -appointments; and, while Latin, in Europe, was still the ordinary medium -of diplomatic intercourse, we find a Venetian ambassador to England, in -1509, Badoer, capable of conversing like a native in English, French, and -German.—See an interesting paper, “Venetian Dispatches,” in the Quarterly -Review, vol. xcvi. p. 369. - -[33] M’Crie’s Reformation in Spain, I. p. 61. See also Hallam’s Literary -History, I. p. 197. - -[34] See the Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. I. pref. p. vii. - -[35] See Hefele’s _Der Cardinal Ximenes_: one of the most interesting and -learned biographies with which I am acquainted, p. 124. - -[36] Vol. II., p. 788. - -[37] Naima’s Annals of the Turkish Empire, translated by M. Frazer, for -the Oriental Translation Society. For this fact I am indebted to the -kindness of Mr. Watts, of the British Museum, but I am unable to refer to -the passage. - -[38] Pilgrimage to El Medinah, II. p. 368. - -[39] Ibid. I., p. 179. - -[40] Burton’s Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah. III., 368. - -[41] Annals of the Turkish Empire, p. 45. - -[42] A melancholy instance of the capriciousness of this sort of -reputation, and of the unhappiness by which, in common with many other -gifts, it is often accompanied, is recorded in the Paris journals of the -early part of this year. A man apparently about fifty years old, named -Tinconi, a native of Constantinople, was found dead at his lodgings in -the Rue des Vieux Augustins, having perished, as it afterwards appeared, -of hunger. This ill-fated man was possessed of an ample fortune, and had -held high diplomatic appointments; and, besides being well-versed in -ancient and modern literature, he spoke not fewer than ten languages, -and knew several others! Yet almost the only record of his varied -accomplishments is that which also tells the story of his melancholy end! - -[43] See his life by Pococke, prefixed to the translation of his work _De -Termino Vitæ_. 1699. - -[44] See Dr. Paul De Lagarde’s learned dissertation, “De Geoponicon -Versione Syriacâ” (p. 3, Leipsig, 1855). This dissertation is an account -of a hitherto unknown Syriac version of the “Scriptores Rei Rusticæ” -which Dr. De Lagarde discovered among the Syriac MSS. of the British -Museum. He has also transcribed from the same collection many similar -remains of Syriac literature, partly sacred, partly profane, which he -purposes to publish at intervals. Some of the former especially, as -referring to the Ante-Nicene period, are, like those already published -by Mr. Cureton, of great interest to students of Christian antiquity, -although the same drawback—doubt as to their age and authorship—must -affect the doctrinal value of them all. - -[45] This laborious and prolific writer, whose works fill nearly 20 -volumes, is said to have used the same pen for no less than forty -years, and to have been thrown almost into despair upon its accidental -destruction at the end of that period. - -[46] Some of these visited the English universities. Of one among the -number, named Metrophanes Critopulus, who was sent by Cyrillus Lucaris -to be indoctrinated in Anglican Theology, and who lived at Oxford at -the charge of archbishop Abbott, a very amusing account is given by the -disappointed prelate in a letter quoted by Neale (History of Alexandria, -II., 413-5.) He turned out “an unworthy fellow,” “far from ingenuity -or any grateful respect,” a “rogue and beggar,” and in other ways -disappointed the care bestowed on him. - -[47] One specimen may suffice, which is furnished by Mr. Neale: -“_Collavi_ (_I have collated_) sua notata cum textu Bellarmini.” Neale, -II., p. 402. The Easterns seldom seem at home in the languages of Europe; -Italian, and still more French orthography, is their great puzzle. I have -seen specimens of Oriental Italian which, for orthography, might rival -“Jeames’s” English, or the French of Augustus the Strong. - -[48] Panagiotes was a native of Scio, and was known in his later life -under the sobriquet of “the Green Horse,” in allusion to a local proverb, -that “it is easier to find a green horse than a wise man in Scio.” -The appellation was the highest tribute that could be rendered to the -prudence and ability of Panagiotes; but it is also a curious confirmation -of the evil repute, as regards honesty, in which the islanders of the -Egean were held from the earliest times. The reader will probably -remember the satirical couplet of Phocylides about the honesty of the -Lerians, which Porson applied, in a well-known English parody, to the -Greek scholarship of Herrmann. - - ————Λέριοι κάκοι ὄυκ ὁ μὲν ὅστδ’ όυ - Πάντες πλήν Προκλέους και Πρόκλεης Λέριος. - -[49] An elaborate account of them will be found in Neumann’s _Versuch -einer Geschichte der Armenischen Literatur_. Leipzig, 1836. On the -exceeding importance of the Armenian language for the general study -of the entire Indo-Germanic family, see the extremely learned essay, -_Urgeschichte der Armenier, ein Philologischer Versuch_. (Berlin, 1854.) -It is published anonymously, but is believed to be from the pen of the -distinguished Orientalist named in page 22. - -[50] I do not think it necessary to mention (though he is a little -earlier) Felix of Ragusa, the principal librarian, or rather book -collector, of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary. He is said to have -known, besides Greek and Latin, the Chaldee, Arabic, and Syriac languages. - -[51] Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria, p. 27. - -[52] The history of this MS. is a strange one. In the sack of Pavia by -the French under Lautrec, it was carried off among the plunder. Teseo was -in despair at the loss, and was returning to Rome with a sad heart. At -Ferrara, he chanced to see a quantity of papers at a charcoal burner’s, -just on the point of being consigned to the furnace. What was his delight -to find his precious Psalter among them! He began the printing of it at -Ferrara without delay, but did not live to see its completion. - -[53] Adelung’s Mithridates, I., 646. See also Biogr. Universelle, II., p. -25. - -[54] Biograph. Univ. XV. 239. - -[55] There is another Pigafetta (Felippo), some years the junior of -Antonio, who was also a very extensive traveller, having visited Turkey, -Egypt, Syria, Croatia, Hungary, the Ukraine, and the northern kingdoms. -He was sent into Persia on a diplomatic mission by Sixtus V. But I have -not been able to find any record of his skill in languages. - -[56] Thevet’s _Thresor des Langues_, p. 964. - -[57] Raimondi had spent many years in the East, and was acquainted -with most of the Oriental languages, living and dead. He projected -a polyglot bible which should contain the Arabic, Syriac, Persic, -Ethiopic, Armenian, and Coptic versions, accompanied by the Grammars and -Dictionaries of these languages. But the death of Gregory XIII., on whose -patronage he mainly relied for the execution of his project, put a stop -to the undertaking. - -[58] A copy of this work is found in the Catalogue of Cardinal -Mezzofanti’s Library, by Signor Bonifazi. It is in 4 vols., fol., Milan, -1632. - -[59] Conciliatio Ecclesiæ Armenæ cum Romana, ex ipsis Armenorum Patrum -et Doctorum Testimoniis. 2 vols fol., Romæ 1658—It is in Bonifazi’s -Catalogue of the Mezzofanti Library, p. 20. - -[60] Feller’s Dict. Biog. art. _Galani_. - -[61] The learned Jesuit, Father Giambattista Ferrari, author of the -_Nomenclator Syrus_, is an exception to the general rule. He does not -appear to have been a member of any of the Eastern missions. Angelo -Canini, the eminent Syriac scholar, though born in Italy, belongs rather -to the French school. - -[62] Wadding assigns his death to the year 1638; but it is clear from -the preface of the Thesaurus that he was dead several years before its -publication, which was in 1636. - -[63] _Alcorani Textus Universus._ 2 vols, fol., Padua, 1698. - -[64] Biogr. Uni. XV. 263, (Brussels Ed.) - -[65] He must not be confounded with a German Orientalist, Christopher -Sigismund Georgi, who lived about the same time. - -[66] Biographie Universelle, Vol. XXVI, p. 128. - -[67] For this interesting anecdote of Father Ignazio de Rossi, I am -indebted to Cardinal Wiseman, who learned it from the companions of the -good old father upon the occasion. His Eminence added, that it was done -as a mere amusement, and without the least effort or the remotest idea of -preparation. - -[68] Through the kindness of the Cavaliere Pezzana, Royal Librarian and -Privy Councillor of Parma, I have been fortunate enough to obtain copies -of some of Mezzofanti’s letters to De Rossi, which will be found in their -chronological order hereafter. - -[69] It is a magnificent folio, entitled “Epithalamia Exoticis Linguis -Reddita;” one of the most curious productions of the celebrated press of -Bodoni. Parma, 1775. - -[70] The _Panglossia_ in honour of Peiresc was the work of many hands, -and cannot fairly be compared with the Epithalamia of De Rossi. I have -never seen a copy of the latter, nor does De Rossi himself, in his modest -autobiography, (_Memorie Storiche_, Parma, 1807, p. 19), enumerate the -languages which it contained. - -[71] The ingenious mechanician, Prince Raimondo di Sansevero, of Naples, -had some name as a linguist. He is said to have known Latin, Greek, -Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and several modern languages. But his knowledge -was very superficial. - -[72] _Theatro Critico_, IV., p. 401, Art. _Glorias de España_. - -[73] _Bibliotheca Hispana_, Vol. IV., p. 75. - -[74] Thus amusingly “Englished” in Wanley’s “Wonders of the Little -World,” p. 285:— - - “A young man have I seen, - At twenty years so skilled, - That every art he knew, and all - In all degrees excelled! - Whatever yet was writ, - He vaunted to pronounce - (Like a young Antichrist) if he - Did read the same but once.” - -[75] P. 457. The work was printed in the same volume with Peter Martyr’s -_De Rebus Oceanicis_. Cologne, 1574. - -[76] Bruce’s Travels, III, 134. - -[77] Duret refers for some notice of Covilham, to the rare work of -Alvarez, _De Historia Ethiopum_. In the hope of discovering something -further regarding this remarkable and little-known linguist, I -endeavoured to consult that author; but I have not been able to find a -copy. It is not in the British Museum. - -[78] Galatinus de Arcanis Cath. Veritatis Libri XII. (Frankfort 1572), B. -III. c. 6, p. 120. - -[79] There is considerable difference of opinion as to his birth-place. -But Nicholas Antonio, in the Bibliotheca Hispana, says it was Frexenal. -Vol. III. p. 207. - -[80] Enfans Celebres, p. 198. Baillet says it was an edition of Seneca’s -Tragedies; but this is a mistake. The _In Senecæ Tragedias Adversaria_ -did not appear till 1574. - -[81] _Teatro Critico_, IV. 401. - -[82] Feyjoo IV. p. 401. “Seguramente podemos creers in alguna rebaxa.” -The _Bibliotheca Hispana_ enumerates twelve languages, Greek, Latin, -Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, French, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, and -English. I. p. 207. - -[83] This is, strange as it may seem, the lowest computation, and rests -on _Lope de Vega’s_ own testimony, written in 1630, five years before his -death. Speaking of the number of his dramatic fictions, he says to his -friend, - - _Mil y quinientos_ fabulas admira. - -By other authors the number is made much greater. According to some, as -his friend, Montalvan, he wrote _eighteen hundred_ plays; and Bouterwek, -in his History of Spanish Literature, puts it down at the enormous -estimate of _two thousand_. “_Spanish Literature_,” I. p. 361. - -[84] Montalvan says _four hundred_. The _Bibliotheca Hispana_ says (vol. -iv., p. 75) “_eighteen hundred plays, and above four hundred sacred -dramas_.” - -[85] A long list of grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, catechisms, -&c., in more than forty-five different languages, compiled by the Spanish -missionaries, is given in the Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. IV. pp. 577-79. - -[86] M. d’Abbadie assures me that Father Paez is still spoken of as “Ma -alim Petros” by the professors of Gondar and Bagënndir. - -[87] Neale’s _History of the Patriarchate of Alexandria_ (London, 1837) -II. 405. - -[88] Letter to M. Le Leu de Wilhem, quoted by Neale, II. 402. - -[89] Biographie Universelle, IX. 301. - -[90] Of the latter work I have never seen the Italian original. I know it -only from the Spanish _Catalogo de las Lenguas de las naciones conocidas, -y numeracion, division, y classes de estas, segun la Diversidad de sus -idiomas y dialectos_. 6 vols 4to. Madrid, 1800-5. - -[91] Anthony Rodolph Chevalier, a Hebraist of some eminence, born in -Normandy in 1507, three years before Postel, has perhaps some claim to be -mentioned before him, inasmuch as several of his versions are inserted in -Walton’s Polyglot; but his history has hardly any interest. - -[92] See Adelung’s Mithridates, I. 646. Postel published in the same -year, the first grammar of the Arabic language ever printed. Paris 1558. - -[93] _Thresor de l’ Histoire de toutes les Langues de cet Univers._ -Cologne, 613, p. 964. - -[94] Adelung, in the appendix of the first volume of his _Mithridates_, -has enumerated several other Pater Nosters, Thevet, Vulcanius (the -latinized form of _Smet_), Merula, Duret, Mauer Waser, Reuter, Witzen, -Bartsch, Bergmann, and others. None of these collections, however, -possesses any special interest, as bearing on the present inquiry, nor -does it appear that any of the authors was particularly eminent as a -speaker of languages; unless we are to presume that Thevet, Duret, -Gramaye, and Witzen, may, in their long travel or sojourn in foreign -countries, have acquired the languages of the nations among whom they -lived. Of the last three names I shall say a few words hereafter. - -[95] A portion of the edition contains a Latin preface, explanatory of -the plan and contents; but the majority of the copies have this preface -in Russian; and, in all, the character employed throughout the body of -the work is Russian. This character, however, may be mastered with so -little difficulty, that, practically, its adoption can hardly be said -to interfere materially with the usefulness of the work; and the use of -the Russian character had many advantages over the Roman, in accurately -representing the various sounds, especially those of the northern -languages. - -An alphabetical digest (4 vols. 4to. 1790-1) of all the words contained -in the Vocabulary (arranged in the order of the alphabet without -reference to language) was compiled, a few years later, by Theodor -Jankiewitsch de Miriewo, by which it may be seen at once to what language -each word belongs. But this digest is described as unscientific in its -plan and execution; and it was commonly believed that the Empress was so -dissatisfied with it, that the work was suppressed and is now extremely -rare; but I have been informed by Mr. Watts of the British Museum, that -copies of it are now not unfrequently offered for sale. A copy has been -for some years in the British Museum. - -[96] It is true that some part of its materials have since become -superannuated by the fuller and more accurate researches of later -investigators, (see Bunsen’s Christianity and Mankind, III. 47.) But it -is nevertheless a work even still of immense value. - -[97] Strange and incredible as this anecdote may seem, it is told -seriously by Scaliger himself, who adds that the same extraordinary power -was possessed also by Jerome Cardan and by his father. See the curious -article in _Moreri_, _voce_ “Scaliger.” - -[98] Enfans Celebres, p. 196. - -[99] An equally eulogistic epigram, by Heinsius, is quoted by Hallam, -Literary History, II. 35. - -[100] Scaligeriana, p. 130. This collection is the first of the series of -_anas_ since so popular. - -[101] Ibid. p. 232. - -[102] On Scaliger’s powers of abuse, see M. Nisard’s brilliant and -amusing Triumvirat Literaire au XVI. Siecle, p. 296, 302, 305, &c. The -“triumvirs” are Lipsius, Scaliger and Casaubon. - -[103] Feller’s Dict. Biograph., vol. V. p. 312. - -[104] Mithridates, I. 650. - -[105] Cologne 1615. - -[106] I cannot help thinking that Adelung quite underrates this curious -work. I have seldom consulted it but with pleasure or profit. And the -concluding chapter, “on the language of animals and of birds,” on -which great ridicule has been thrown, is in reality a very curious, -interesting, and judicious essay. - -[107] Mr. Kenrick, in the preface of his recent work on Phœnicia, -confesses that “the most diligent reader of ancient authors with a view -to the illustration of Phœnician history, will find himself anticipated -or surpassed by Bochart.” - -[108] Bochart’s death was the consequence of a fit with which he was -seized during a vehement dispute which he had with Huet, in the academy -of Caen in 1667, respecting the authenticity of some Spanish medals. -Huet appears to have long felt the memory of it painfully. He alludes to -it in a letter to his nephew, Piadore de Chersigne, above forty years -afterwards; and seems to console himself by thinking that Bochart’s death -“ne lui fut causèe par notre dispute, sinon en partie.” It is curious -that Disraeli has overlooked this in his “Quarrels of Authors.” - -[109] Feller’s Dict. Biograph., vol. X. p. 476. - -[110] Perhaps I ought to mention Renaudot’s contemporary, the Jesuit, -Father Claude Francis Menestrier, (1631-1704), who although not a great -linguist, is at least notable for the rather rare accomplishment of -speaking Greek with remarkable propriety and fluency, and still more for -his prodigious memory, which Queen Christina of Sweden tried by a very -singular ordeal. She had a string of three hundred words, the oddest -and most unconnected that could be devised, written down without the -least order or connexion, and read over once in Menestrier’s presence. -He repeated them in their exact order, without a single mistake or -hesitation!—_Biographie Univ., Vol. XXVIII._, _p._ 293. - -A still more extraordinary example of this power of memory is related -by Padre Menocchio (the well-known Biblical commentator, Menochius) of -a young Corsican whom Muret met at Padua, and who was not only able -to repeat in their regular order a jumble of words similar to that -described above, but could repeat them _backwards, and with various other -modifications_! The youth assured Muret that he could retain in this way -36,000 words, and that he would undertake to keep them in memory for an -entire year! See Menocchio’s _Stuore_, Part III., p. 89. The _Stuore_ -is a miscellaneous collection, compiled by this learned Jesuit during -his hours of recreation. He called the work by this quaint title (Ang. -“_Mats_”) in allusion to the habit of the ancient monks, who used to -employ their leisure hours in weaving _mats_, in the literal sense of -the word. This fanciful title is not unlike that chosen by Clement of -Alexandria for a somewhat similar miscellany, his Στρώματα [Tapestry], or -perhaps the more literal one “Patchwork,” assumed by a popular writer of -our own time. - -[111] Many of the French missionaries in China, of course, were -distinguished Chinese scholars. The Dictionary of Pere Amiot, for -example, although not published till after his death, is still a standard -work. It was edited by Langlés in 1789-90. - -[112] For instance his _Memoire dans le quel on prouve que les Chinois -sont une Colonie Egyptienne_; a notion which was warmly controverted by -his fellow pupil, Deshauterayes. De Guignes argues from the supposed -resemblance of the Chinese and Phœnician characters. His great Chinese -Dictionary, with Klaproth’s supplement, (2 vols. fol., Paris, 1813-19) is -in Mezzofanti’s Catalogue, p. 6. - -[113] Although of French parents, Ruffin was born in 1742 at Salonica, -where his father was living in the capacity of chief interpreter of -France. Feller, vol XI., p. 163. - -[114] Biogr. Univ. XIX., 172 (Brussels ed.) - -[115] Biogr. Univ., vol. LXX., p. 189-200. - -[116] Auguste Herbin, a few years Remusat’s senior (having been born at -Paris 1783), was cut off in the very commencement of a most promising -career as an Orientalist. He died in 1806, before he had completed his -twenty-fourth year. - -[117] M. Eugene Borè has been in Armenia what the two D’Abbadies have -been in Abyssinia—at once a scholar and a missionary—the pioneer of -religion and civilization, no less than of science. - -[118] I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to acknowledge the -valuable assistance on many points which I have received, in the form -both of information and of suggestion, at the hands of this distinguished -philologist and traveller. I am but speaking the common feeling of the -learned of every country, when I express a hope that, before long, -the world may be favoured with the results of his long and laborious -researches in the language, literature, and history of Ethiopia. - -[119] Journ. Asiat. 3me., Serie, Vol. VI. p. 79. - -[120] Under this head are included all the members of the German -family—Dutch, Flemings, Swedes, Danes, Swiss, &c. I have found it -convenient, too, to include Hungarians (as Austrian subjects), although, -of course, their proper ethnological place should be elsewhere. - -[121] Better known by his Grecised name, Capnio (καπνιον, _Rauchlein_, -“_a little smoke_.”) - -[122] Bibliander was a Swiss, born at Bischoffzell about 1500. His family -name was _Buchmann_ (Bookman), which, in the fashion of his time, he -translated into the Greek, Bibliander. - -[123] Duret says they were “beyond numbering”; but so vague a statement -cannot be urged too literally. _Thresor_, p. 963. - -[124] Zurich 1545. It is a small 12mo. - -[125] Gesner’s Mithridates is perhaps remarkable as containing the -earliest printed specimen of the Rothwälsches, or “Gipsy-German.” He -gives a vocabulary of this slang language, of about seven pages in -length. It is only just to his memory to add that in his Epilogue, -which is a very pleasing composition, he acknowledges the manifold -imperfections of the work, and only claims the merit of opening a way for -inquirers of more capacity and better opportunities of research. - -[126] Mithridates, I., 649. - -[127] Biographie Universelle, Vol. VIII., 485. - -[128] Feller, Vol. VIII., 136. - -[129] Mithridates, I., 596. - -[130] Biogr. Univ., Art. Kircher. - -[131] Even at his meals Ludolf always kept an open book before him. - -[132] Feller’s Dict. Biog. VII., p. 622. - -[133] Biographie Universelle, Vol. XLI., p. 180. - -[134] Adelung’s Mithridates, I., 660. - -[135] They are given in the second volume. Witzen’s letters to Leibnitz -are of the years 1697, 1698, and 1699. Opp. Vol. VI., Part II., pp. -191-206. The specimens of the Pater Noster are in the Collectanea -Etymol., ib. 187. - -[136] I., 664. - -[137] See several interesting examples in the first of Cardinal Wiseman’s -Lectures “On the Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion,” -I., p. 25. The two lectures on the Comparative Study of Languages -exhaust the whole history of philological science down to the date of -their publication. Ample justice is also rendered to Leibnitz’s rare -philological instinct by Chevalier Bunsen, Christianity and Mankind, -III., 44. See also Guhrauer’s “Leibnitz: Eine Biographie,” II., 129. - -[138] See Denina’s La Prusse Litteraire, III., 83. - -[139] He wrote chiefly in Russian. See Meusel’s Gelehrte Deutschland, a -dry but learned and accurate Dictionary of the living writers of Germany -in the end of the eighteenth century, begun by Homberger in 1783, but -continued by Meusel. - -[140] Biogr. Univ., VI., 399. - -[141] Biog. Univ., p. 402. - -[142] Denina (Prusse Litteraire, III., p. 31) observes that the name of -Michaelis would appear to have had the profession of Oriental literature -as its peculiar inheritance. - -[143] For a complete enumeration of his works see Meusel’s Gelehrte -Deutschland, II., 563. - -[144] 3 vols., 8vo., London, 1827. - -[145] Biographie Universelle, LVIII., p. 4. - -[146] Feller, I., 66. See also Bunsen, III., 42. - -[147] Vol. I., p. xx. - -[148] Bunsen’s “Christianity and Mankind,” III., p. 44. - -[149] See preface of the _Vocabularia Comparativa_. Also Biographie -Universelle, XXXII., p. 440. - -[150] The Japanese he learned from a shipwrecked native of Japan whom he -met at Irkutsch; probably the same mentioned in “Golownin’s Narrative.” - -[151] Biogr. Univ., LXVIII., 532. - -[152] Life and Letters of Niebuhr, I. p. 27-8. - -[153] “Christianity and Mankind,” III., p. 60. - -[154] As a mere linguist I should name Dr. Pruner, a native of Bavaria, -but long a resident of Egypt, where he was physician of the late Pasha. -M. d’Abbadie states that Dr. Pruner is reputed to speak twelve languages, -Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Latin, German, English, French, Italian, -Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish. - -[155] This Grammar has appeared in successive sections, commencing in -1833, and only completed in 1852. - -[156] Klaproth, the great explorer of the Caucasian languages, does not -properly belong to Schlegel’s school, as he comparatively overlooks the -great principle of Schlegel—the grammatical structure of languages. - -[157] Castrén was an accomplished writer both in his own language and in -German, and a poet of much merit. His Swedish version of the old Finnic -Saga “Kalevala,” is perhaps deserving of notice as having furnished in -its metre the model of the new English measure adopted by Longfellow in -his recent poem “Hiawatha.” Castrén’s birth-place is close to Uleåborg, -the spot resorted to commonly by travellers who desire to witness the -phenomenon of “the Midnight Sun.” - -[158] Bunsen, III., p. 274. - -[159] Bunsen, III., p. 53. - -[160] Ibid, 270. - -[161] In his “Comparative Grammar of the Drâvidian or South-Indian Family -of Languages.” - -[162] The fiercest of them all is contained not in the Journal, but in a -pamphlet which was distributed to members of the Society. - -[163] Dr. Paul De Lagarde, for instance, has the reputation of knowing -above twenty languages. - -[164] Christianity and Mankind, III., 271. - -[165] Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, I. 450-3. - -[166] Cancellieri, Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria, e sugli Uomini -smemorati, p. 50-1. - -[167] Life of James Crichton of Cluny, commonly called “the Admirable -Crichton.” Edinburgh, 1819. - -[168] _Wonders of the Little World_, p. 286. - -[169] II., p. 223. - -[170] “New Atlantis.” Bacon’s Works, II., 84. - -[171] Life of Edward Lord Clarendon, I., p. 35. - -[172] Literary History, II., 85. - -[173] Church History, III., 87. - -[174] Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 131. - -[175] Ibid. - -[176] Rose’s Biographical Dictionary, XI., 166. - -[177] Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 131. - -[178] Wilkins was an eminent mathematician, and one of the first members -of the Royal Society. But his reputation as a humourist was his chief -recommendation to Buckingham. His character in many respects resembled -that of Swift. One of his witticisms is worth recording. After the first -appearance of his well-known Voyage to the Moon [“Discovery of a New -World, with a Discourse concerning the Possibility of a Voyage thither”], -the eccentric Duchess of Newcastle jestingly remarked to him that the -only defect in his account was that it omitted to tell where the voyagers -would find lodging and accommodation by the way. “That need present no -difficulty to your Grace,” said Wilkins; “you have built so many _castles -in the air_ that _you_ cannot be at any loss for accommodation on the -journey.” - -[179] He published the “Pantheisticon,” the most profane of all his -works, under this pseudonym. I regret to see that an elaborate attempt -to recall this long-forgotten book into notice, is made by Dr. Hermann -Hettner, in his “Geschichte der Englischen Literatur von 1660 bis 1770,” -the first volume of which has just been published at Leipsic (1856). Dr. -Hettner has even been at the pains to translate largely from its worst -profanities. - -[180] Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 110. - -[181] Among the crowd of bubble companies which arose about the time -of the Revolution, was the “Royal Academies Company,” which professed -to have engaged the best masters in every department of knowledge, and -issued 20,000 tickets at twenty shillings each. The fortunate holders -were to be taught at the charge of the company! Among the subjects of -instruction languages held a high place; and the scheme of education -comprised Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and Spanish! See Macaulay’s -History of England, IV., 307. - -[182] Disraeli has a curious chapter on Henley, _Miscellanies_, pp. 73-8. - -[183] A plan for the promotion of Oriental studies, under the patronage -of the Company, formed one of the many magnificent schemes of Warren -Hastings, himself no mean linguist. Hastings consulted Johnson on the -subject; and it is observed as an evidence of his extraordinary coolness -and self-possession, that his letter, acknowledging Johnson’s present -of Sir W. Jones’s Persian Grammar, was written in the midst of the -excitement of one of the most eventful days in his chequered life. See -Croker’s Boswell’s Life of Johnson. VIII., 38-42, and Macaulay’s Essays, -p. 593. - -[184] Even during an attack of ophthalmia he did not relax in his -application to study, but used to get some of his schoolfellows to read -for him while he was himself disabled from reading. - -[185] Lord Teignmouth’s Life of Sir William Jones, II., 168. - -[186] II., 168. - -[187] He displayed great disinterestedness in the public service by -voluntarily relinquishing, several years before his death, (1836) a large -pension which he held under the crown. - -[188] 1765-1837. - -[189] Memorials of My Own Time, p. 180. - -[190] Lockhart’s Life of Scott, I., p. 323. - -[191] Life of Thomas Young, M.D. By George Peacock, D.D. London, 1855. - -[192] See an interesting memoir in the National Review, II., 69-97. - -[193] Christianity and Mankind, III., 48. - -[194] Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion, I., 180. - -[195] See especially an exceedingly learned and interesting article in -the Dublin Review, Vol. XXXIX., pp. 199-244. on Dr. Donaldson’s _Jashar_. - -[196] Illustrated London News, Feb. 10, 1856. - -[197] See a memoir of Dr. Samuel Lee in Jerdan’s “Portrait Gallery,” Vol. -V. - -[198] Journal of a Residence in London. By Nathaniel Wheaton, A.M., p. 85. - -[199] People’s Journal, Vol. I., p. 244. - -[200] Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, art. Burritt. - -[201] I must here acknowledge my especial obligations to Mr. Watts; not -alone for the facilities kindly afforded to me in consulting books in the -British Museum Library, but for the valuable assistance in discovering -the best sources of information which his extensive acquaintance with -Slavonic literature enabled him to render to me in the inquiry. - -[202] For some account of this traveller see Otto’s Lehrbuch der -Russischen Literatur, p. 231. - -[203] König’s Literarische Bilder aus Russland, p. 33. - -[204] Ibid. - -[205] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p 246. Pameva was not properly a Russian, having -been born in Moldavia; but he became a monk at Kiew, which thenceforward -was the country of his adoption. - -[206] Grammatica Russica et Manuductio ad Linguam Slavorum, Oxford, 1696. - -[207] See Guhrauer’s “_Leibnitz, eine Biographie_,” Vol. II., pp. 271-5, -for the details of this magnificent scheme. - -[208] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 179. - -[209] See an article on “Russian Literature,” _Foreign Quart. Review_, -Vol. 1., p. 610. - -[210] See an interesting notice in Otto’s Lehrbuch, _sub voce_. - -[211] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 294. 5. - -[212] See König’s _Literarische Bilder aus Russland_, p. 38, also Otto’s -_Lehrbuch_, p. 204, and Bowring’s _Russian Anthology_, 1. 205. 8. His -works fill 6 vols. 8vo. 1804. - -[213] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 257. - -[214] Biograph. Univ. VIII. p. 87. - -[215] Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 246. - -[216] See an interesting sketch of this institute, by M. Dulaurier: -L’Institut Lazareff des Langues Orientales, Paris 1856. - -[217] Dulaurier, p. 48. - -[218] Historic View of the Language and Literature of the Slavonic -Nations, by Talvi—the pseudonym of Theresa A. L. von Jacob, (formed of -her several initials), daughter of the celebrated Professor von Jacob, -and now wife of Dr. Robinson the eminent American Biblical scholar, p. 73. - -[219] Ibid. - -[220] Travels of the Russian Mission through Mongolia and China, 2 vols. -8vo, 1827. - -[221] Historical View of Slavonic Languages, p. 32. - -[222] Ibid, p. 98. His Georgian Dictionary obtained the Demidoff prize. -See catalogue de l’Academie Imperiale a St. Petersbourg, p. 58. - -[223] 3 vols. 4to. Moscow, 1840. - -[224] Literarische Bilder aus Russland (König), pp. 312-21. - -[225] Literature and Language of Slavonic Nations, p. 244. - -[226] In one vol. 4to, Petersburg, 1851. - -[227] De Origine et Rebus Gestis Polonorum, Lib. XXX., ibid. 244. - -[228] Lit. and Lang. of Slavonic Nations, p. 178. - -[229] The _Thesaurus_ (4 vols, folio, Vienna 1680) supposes in its -author a knowledge of at least eight different languages, Arabic, -Persian, Turkish, Latin, Italian, French, German, and Polish. Meninski -was a man of indomitable energy. In two successive pamphlets which he -published in the course of a controversy which he carried on with his -great rival, Podestà (who was professor of Arabic in the University) he -went to the pains of actually _transcribing with his own hand in each -copy_ the quotations from Oriental authors, as there were no Oriental -types in Vienna from which they could be printed! Meninski’s Thesaurus, -however, is best known from the learned edition of it which was printed -at Vienna (1780-1802) under the revision of Baron von Ienisch, himself -an Orientalist of very high reputation, and for a considerable time -interpreter of the Austrian embassy at Constantinople. - -[230] Literature of Slavonic Nations, 270. See also an interesting memoir -in the _Biographie Universelle_. He was born at Warsaw in 1731, and -survived till 1808. - -[231] See Biographie Universelle (Supplement), Vol. LVII., p. 589. -Italinski continued and completed D’Hancarville’s great work on Etruscan -Antiquities. - -[232] Ibid., p. 190. - -[233] See an interesting memoir in Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, Vol. -III., pp. 280-1. - -[234] See Staudenmaier’s “Pragmatismus der Geistes-gaben,” [Tübingen -1835], and Englmann’s “Von der Charismen im allgemeinen, und von -dem Sprachen-charismen im Besondern.” [Regensburg, 1848]. See also -a long list of earlier writers (chiefly Rationalistic) in Kuinoel’s -“Commentarius in Libros N. T.” vol. IV. pp. 40-2; also in Englmann, pp. -15-23. - -[235] Jost’s Geschichte der Israeliten, VI., 166. - -[236] P. 15. The example and patronage of Frederic tended much to promote -the revival of Oriental studies. Many of the earliest versions of the -works of Aristotle from the Arabic, were made under his auspices or those -of his son Manfred; among others (compare Jourdain’s “Recherches sur -les Traductions Latines d’Aristote,” p. 124, Paris 1843; also Whewell’s -“History of the Inductive Sciences,” I., p. 343;) that of Sir Michael -Scott of Balwearie, a learned Orientalist and an accomplished general -scholar, although his traditionary character is that of “the wizard -Michael Scott.” His namesake, Sir Walter, has immortalized him, not as a -scholar, but as - - “A wizard of such dreaded fame, - That when, in Salamanca’s cave, - Him listed his magic wand to wave - The bells would ring in Notre Dame!” - -Roger Bacon’s skill in Arabic and other Eastern tongues was probably one -of the causes which drew upon him the same evil reputation. I should have -mentioned Bacon among the few notable mediæval linguists. He was “an -industrious student of Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and the modern tongues.” -(Milman’s Latin Christianity, VI., p. 477). Perhaps I ought also to have -named Albert the Great (Ibid., p. 453); but I am rather disposed to -believe that the knowledge which he had of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic -authors, was derived from Latin versions, and not from the original works -themselves. - -[237] Gerbert travelled to Spain with the express purpose of studying in -the Arabian schools. See Hock’s “Sylvester II., und sein Jahrhundert;” -also Whewell’s “Inductive Sciences,” I., 273. - -[238] Duret’s _Thresor_, p. 963. - -[239] Paul IV. is mentioned by Cancellieri, as having known the entire -Bible by heart. He names several other men, (one of them _blind_,) and -_six ladies_, who could do the same; he tells of one man who could repeat -it in Hebrew. - -[240] Kemble’s Social and Political State of Europe, p. 9. - -[241] His full name is “Phra Bard Somdetch Phra Paramendt Maha Mongkut -Phra Chom Klau Chau Hu Yua.” _Bowring’s Siam_, (Dedication.) The account -of the king is most interesting. - -[242] Valery. Voyage Litteraire de l’Italie, p. 237. I have just met a -modern parallel for her. The brilliant Mme. Henrietta Herz, according -to her new biographer, Dr. Fürst, knew Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, -French, Spanish, German, English, and Swedish, besides a slight knowledge -of Sanscrit, Turkish, and Malay—“Henriette Herz, ihre Leben und -Erinnerurgen,” Berlin, 1858. - -[243] Tiraboschi Storia, Vol. V., p. 358. - -[244] Valery, 237. Fleck (Wissenschaftliche Reise II., p. 97) says -Anatomy; but this is a mistake. There is a very interesting sketch of -Laura Bassi in Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, New Series, Vol. XII., pp. -31-2. She was solemnly admitted to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in -1732. - -[245] Cancellieri, “Uomini di gran Memoria.” - -[246] In the Bibliotheca Hispana, Vol. IV., pp. 344-53. - -[247] Ibid, p. 345. - -[248] Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. IV. p. 346. - -[249] P. 346. An ode of Lope Vega’s in her praise describes her as a -“fourth Grace,” and a “tenth Muse”—“que as hecho quatre las Gracias y las -Musas diez.” - -[250] Fragments in Prose and Verse, by Elizabeth Smith. With a Life by -Mrs. Bowdler, (Bath, 1810,) p. 264. - -[251] Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, II. 419. - -[252] “Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria,” pp. 72-80. - -[253] His family name seems unknown; his father, who was a _facchino_, -(or porter,) being called simply _Il Modenese_. - -[254] So marvellous was his performance, that it was seriously ascribed -to the Devil by Candido Brognolo, in his “_Alexicacon_,” (Venice 1663), -and Padre Cardi thought it not beneath him to publish a formal reply to -this charge. - -[255] Feller, III. 132. - -[256] Ibid, p. 70. - -[257] Johnson’s Works, VI. p. 368-74. - -[258] The Biographie Universelle places Amaduzzi’s birth (curiously -enough for its coincidence with those of the three just mentioned), in -1720: but this is a mistake; he was seventeen years old at the visit of -Joseph II. to Rome, in 1767. His birth therefore must be assigned to 1750. - -[259] Cancellieri, pp. 84-7. - -[260] The learned patristical scholar, John Baptist Cotelier, -(Cotelerius,) is another example of precocious development leading to -solid fruit. At twelve years of age Cotelier could read and translate -fluently any part of the Bible that was opened for him! I may also recall -here the case of Dr. Thomas Young, of whom I have already spoken. His -early feat of reading the entire Bible twice through before he was four -years old, is hardly less wonderful than any of those above recorded. See -National Review, vol. II. p. 69. - -[261] A vocalist, named H. K. von Freher, has appeared recently, who -advertises _to sing_ in thirty-six different languages! He is a native -of Hungary. With how many of these languages, however, he professes to -be acquainted, and what degree of familiarity he claims with each, I am -unable to say; but he is described in the public journals as “speaking -English with purity;” and in one of his latest performances he favoured -the audience with “portions of songs in no less than three or four -and twenty different languages, commencing with a Russian hymn, and -proceeding on with a French romance, a Styrian song, a Polish air, which -he screeched most amusingly, a Sicilian song, as dismal as the far-famed -Vespers of that country, a Canadian ditty, a Hungarian serenade, a -Maltese air, a Bavarian, a Neapolitan barcarole, a Hebrew psalm, a -Tyrolean air, in which the rapid changes from the basso profondo to the -falsetto had a most singular effect.” - -[262] The title of this singular volume is worth transcribing: “Coryat’s -Crudities, hastily gobbled up in five months’ Travels in France, Savoy, -Italy, Rhetia, (commonly called the Grisons’ Country), Helvetia, alias -Switzerland, some parts of High Germany, and the Netherlands; newly -digested in the hungry air of Odcombe in the county of Somersetshire, -and now dispersed to the Nourishment of the travelling Members of this -Kingdom.” 4to. London, 1611. It is further noticeable in this place for a -polyglot appendix of quizzical verses in Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, -French, Welsh, Irish, Macaronic, and Utopian, “by various hands.” - -[263] 1 vol. 12mo, printed at Strawberry Hill, 1758, and re-printed in -Dodsley’s Collections, 1761. - -[264] This name was afterwards the subject of a punning epigram. -Mezzofanti is a compound word, (like the names Mezzaharba, Mezzavacca. -Mezzomorto, &c.,) and means _half-child_, [Mezzo-Fante.] Hence the -following distich:— - - _Dimidium Fantis_ jam nunc supereminct omnes! - Quid, credis, fieret, si _integer_ ipse foret? - -[265] In the Via Malcontenti. The house still exists, but has been -entirely remodelled. An inscription for the apartment in which Mezzofanti -was born was composed by D. Vincenzo Mignani:— - - Heic Mezzofantus natus, notissimus Orbi, - Unus qui linguas calluit omnigenas. - -Some years later Francis Mezzofanti removed to a house on the opposite -side of the same street, in which he thenceforward continued to reside. -This house also is still in existence, but has been modernized. In the -early part of the year 1800, Mezzofanti established himself, together -with the family of his sister, Signora Minarelli, in a separate -house, situated however in the same street: but, from the time of his -appointment as Librarian, in 1815, till his final removal to Rome, he -occupied the Librarian’s apartments in the Palazzo Dell’ Università. - -[266] There has been some diversity of statement as to the year. The -_Enciclopedia Popolare_ (Turin 1851, supp. p. 299,) hesitates between -1774 and 1771. But there can be no doubt that it was the former. - -[267] He merely learned to read and write. - -[268] Antonio Dall’ Olmo was a professor in the University so far back as -1360. See Tiraboschi, “Letteratura Italiana,” V. p. 56. - -[269] Mingarelli has been a distinguished name in Bolognese letters. The -two brothers, Ferdinand and John Lewis, were among the most diligent -patristical students of the last century. To the latter (of whom I shall -have to speak hereafter,) we are indebted for a learned edition of -the lost Περὶ Tρiάδος of the celebrated Didymus, the blind teacher of -Alexandria; the former also is spoken of with high praise by Tiraboschi, -VII., 1073. This family, however, is different from that of Minarelli, -with which Mezzofanti was connected. - -[270] No fewer than eleven sons and four daughters. Of the sons only -two are now living—the Cavaliere Pietro Minarelli, who is a physician -and member of the Medical Faculty of Bologna, and the Cavaliere -Gaetano, an advocate and notary. A third son, Giuseppe, embraced the -ecclesiastical profession in which he rose to considerable distinction. -He was a linguist of some reputation, being acquainted with no fewer -than eight languages, (see the _Cantica di G. Morocco_, p. 12, note,) -an accomplishment which he owed mainly to the instruction of his uncle. -Some time after the departure of the latter for Rome, Giuseppe was named -Rector of the University of Bologna, and honorary Domestic Prelate of -the Pope Gregory XVI., but he died at a comparatively early age in -1843. A fourth son, Filippo, became an architect, but was disabled by a -paralytic attack from prosecuting his studies, and died after a lingering -and painful illness, July 23rd, 1839. The other sons died in childhood. -The four daughters, Maria, Anna, Gesualda, and Gertrude, still survive. -Maria and Gertrude married—the first, Signor Mazzoli, the second, -Signor Calori—and are now widows. Anna and Gesualda are unmarried. The -former resided with her uncle, from the time of his elevation to the -cardinalate till his death. She is said to be an accomplished painter in -water-colours. Her sister, Gesualda, is an excellent linguist. - -[271] I take the earliest opportunity to express my most grateful -acknowledgment of the exceeding courtesy, not only of the Cavaliere -Minarelli and other members of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s family, but of many -other gentlemen of Bologna, Parma, Modena, Florence, Rome, and Naples. -I must mention with especial gratitude the Abate Mazza, Vice-Rector of -the Pontifical Seminary, at Bologna; Cavaliere Angelo Pezzana, Librarian -of the Ducal Library, at Parma; Cavaliere Cavedoni, Librarian of Modena; -Professor Guasti at Florence; Padre Bresciani, the distinguished author -of the “Ebreo di Verona,” at Rome; the Rector and Vice-Rector of the -Irish College, and the Rector and Vice-Rector of the English College in -the same city; and Padre Vinditti of the Jesuit College at Naples. For -some personal recollections of Mezzofanti and his early friends, and for -other interesting information obtained from Bologna, I am indebted to -Dr. Santagata, to Mgr. Trombetti, and to the kind offices of the learned -Archbishop of Tarsus, Mgr. De Luca, Apostolic Nuncio at Munich. - -[272] This anecdote was told to Cardinal Wiseman by the late Archdeacon -Hare, as current in Bologna during the residence of his family in -that city. The Archdeacon’s brother, Mr. Francis Hare, was intimately -acquainted with Mezzofanti during his early life, and was for some time -his pupil. - -[273] Headley’s “Letters from Italy,” pp. 152-3. - -[274] Ibid, p. 152. - -[275] He published a number of polemical and moral treatises, which are -enumerated in the “Memorie di Religione,” a journal published at Modena, -vol IV., pp. 456-61, where will also be found an interesting memoir of -the author. - -[276] Another name, Molina, is mentioned, as one of his early masters, -in a rude poetical panegyric of the Cardinal, by an improvisatore named -Giovanni Masocco:—“Per la illustre e sempre cara Memoria del Card. -Giuseppe Mezzofanti,” [Roma 1849]. But I have not learned any particulars -regarding this Molina. - -[277] This at least was Thiulen’s ordinary department. See the _Memorie -di Religione_, already cited. - -[278] _Esquisse Historique sur le Cardinal Mezzofanti. Par A. Manavit._ -Paris, 1853, p. 15. - -[279] See the _Memorie di Religione_, vol. XV., where an interesting -biography of the Abate Ranzani will be found. - -[280] Manavit, “Esquisse Historique,” p. 9. - -[281] Ibid, p. 12. - -[282] Manavit assigns a much later date, 1791. But the short memoir -by Signor Stoltz, [Biografia del Cardinal Mezzofanti; Scritta dall’ -Avvocato G. Stoltz, Roma 1851,] founded upon information supplied by the -Cardinal’s family, which states that he had completed his philosophy -when he was but fifteen, (p. 6,) is much more reconcilable with facts -otherwise ascertained. His philosophical course occupied three years. -(See _De Josepho Mezzofantio, Sermones Duo auctore Ant. Santagata_, -published in the acts of the Institute of Bologna, vol. V. p. 169, et -seq.) His theological course (probably of four,) was completed in 1796, -or at farthest early in 1797. This would clearly have been impossible in -the interval assigned by Manavit. - -[283] One of these, _Reflessioni sul Manuale dei Teofilantropi_, -is directed against the singular half-religious, half-social -confederation, entitled “Theophilanthropists,” founded in 1795, by La -Reveillere-Lepéaux, one of the directors of the French Republic. These -treatises are noticed in the _Memorie di Religione_, 1822, 1823, and -1824. Joseph Voglio is not to be confounded with the physiologist of the -same name, (John Hyacinth,) who was also professor in Bologna, but in the -previous generation. - -[284] “De Josepho Mezzofantio Sermones Duo,” p. 172. - -[285] Manavit, p. 13. - -[286] Santagata’s “Sermones Duo,” p. 173. - -[287] Elementi della Lingua Greca, per uso delle Scuole di Bologna. -Bologna 1807. - -[288] See Kephalides “Reise durch Italien und Sicilien.” Vol. I. p. 29. - -[289] See two interesting articles in the “Historisch-Politische -Blätter,” vol. X. p. 200, and folio. The writer was the younger Görres, -(Guido,) son of the well-known professor of that name. Most of his -information as to the early life of Mezzofanti was derived from the -Cardinal himself, with whom, during a long sojourn in Rome, in 1841-2, he -formed a very close and intimate friendship, and in company with whom he -studied the Basque language. I have spoken of Mingarelli in a former page. - -[290] Manavit, p. 17. - -[291] Santagata, p. 171. - -[292] “Memorie di Religione,” vol. IV., p. 450. - -[293] Santagata “De Josepho Mezzofantio,” p. 185. “Applausi dei -Filopieri,” p. 12-3. Mezzofanti was more fortunate in this experiment -than the Frenchman mentioned in Moore’s “Diary,” (vol. VI., p. 190,) who, -after he had taken infinite pains to learn a language which he _believed -to be Swedish_, discovered, at the end of his studies, that the language -which he had acquired with so much labour was _Bas-Breton_. - -[294] M. Manavit (p. 19,) says, that he was at this time _twenty-two -years_ old. But this is an error of a full year. He was born on the -17th September, 1774; and therefore, before September 24th, 1797, had -completed his twenty-third year. M. Manavit was probably misled by -the dispensation in age which was obtained for him. But it must be -recollected that such dispensation is required for all candidates for -priesthood under _twenty-four years_ complete. - -[295] This date, and the others relating to his university career, have -(through the kindness of the Nuncio at Munich, Mgr. De Luca,) been -extracted for me from an autograph note, deposited by Mezzofanti himself -in the archives of the university of Bologna, on the 25th of April, 1815. - -[296] Santagata, Sermones, p. 190. - -[297] Manavit, p. 28. - -[298] Whewell’s Inductive Sciences, III. p. 86. - -[299] Manavit, p. 19. - -[300] Ibid, p. 29. - -[301] The learned and munificent Egidio Albornoz, whom English readers -probably know solely from the revolting picture in Bulwer’s “Rienzi.” -The Albornoz College was founded in pursuance of his will, in 1377, with -an endowment for twenty-four Spanish students, and two chaplains. See -Tiraboschi “Letteratura Italiana,” V. p. 58. - -[302] Görres, in the Histor. Polit. Blätter, X. p. 203. - -[303] Manavit, p. 21. - -[304] Manavit, p. 23. - -[305] Ibid, pp. 104-5. - -[306] Zach’s “Correspondance Astronomique,” vol. IV. p. 192. - -[307] Alison’s “History of Europe,” vol. IV. p. 241, (fifth edition). - -[308] Wap’s Mijne Reis naar Rome, in het Voorjaar van 1837. 2 vols. 8vo, -Breda, 1838, II. p. 28. - -[309] p. 105. - -[310] Santagata “Sermones,” p. 189. - -[311] Ibid, p. 189. - -[312] Lexicon Heptaglotton, Preface. - -[313] Disraeli’s Curiosities of Literature, p. 372. - -[314] Ibid, 369. - -[315] Historisch-Polit. Blätter, Vol. X., p. 204. - -[316] It would be curious to collect the opinions of scholars upon the -amount of time which may profitably be devoted to study. Some students, -like those named above, and others who might easily have been added;—as -the celebrated Père Hardouin; or the ill-fated Robert Heron, who died in -Newgate in 1807, and who for many years had spent from twelve to sixteen -hours a day at his desk [Disraeli, p. 84];—place no limit to the time of -study beyond that of the student’s physical powers of endurance. On the -other hand, Sir Matthew Hale (see Southey’s Life, IV., 357) said that six -hours a day were as much as any student could usefully bear; and even -Lord Coke was fully satisfied with eight. Much, of course, must depend -on the individual constitution; but of the two opinions the latter is -certainly nearer the truth. - -[317] In “Lettere di Varii illustri Itali, del Secolo XVII., e del -Secolo XVIII.” Vol. III., p. 183. Count Stratico is the well-known -mathematician, the friend and colleague of Volta in the University of -Pavia. - -[318] A Mission had existed in Congo since the end of the fifteenth -century. - -[319] “Ragguaglio del Viaggio compendioso d’un Dilettante Antiquario -sorpreso da’ Corsari, condotto in Barberia, e felicemente ripatriato.” -2 vols. Milan, 1805-6. The work is anonymous, but the authorship is -plain from the passport and other circumstances. I am indebted for the -knowledge of the book (which is now rare) to Mr. Garnett of the British -Museum. A tolerably full account of it may be found in the _Bibliothèque -Universelle de Genêve_ (a continuation of the _Bibliothèque Britannique_) -vol. VIII., pp. 388-408. - -[320] A similar narrative was published as late as 1817 by Pananti. -“Avventure ed Osservazioni sopra le Coste di Barberia.” Firenze 1817. It -was translated into English by Mr. Blacquiere, and published in 1819. -In the end of the seventeenth century, France and England severally -compelled the Dey of Algiers to enter into treaties by which their -subjects were protected from these piratical outrages; and in the -following century, the increasing naval power of the other great European -states tended to secure for them a similar immunity. But the weaker -maritime states of the Mediterranean, especially Naples, Sicily, and -Sardinia, were still exposed not only to attacks upon their vessels at -sea, but even to descents upon their shores, in which persons of every -age and sex were carried off and sold into slavery. The long wars of -the Revolution secured a sort of impunity for these outrages, which at -length reached such a height, that when, in 1816, the combined English -and Dutch squadron under Lord Exmouth destroyed the arsenal and fleet -of Algiers, the number of Christian captives set at liberty was no less -than ten hundred and eighty-three. Nevertheless even still the evil was -not entirely abated; nor can the secure navigation of the Mediterranean -be said to have been completely established till the final capture of -Algiers by the French under Duperre and Bourmont, in 1830. - -[321] In virtue of a treaty made in 1683, after the memorable bombardment -of Algiers by Admiral Du Quesne. - -[322] The Moorish form of the common Arabic name _Tezkerah_, [in Egypt, -(see Burton’s “Medinah and Meccah,” I. 26.) Tazkirêh] of a passport. The -Moorish Arabic differs considerably (especially in the vowel sounds,) -from the common dialect of the East. Caussin de Percival’s Grammar -contains both dialects, and a special Grammar of Moorish Arabic was -published at Vienna by Dombay, of which Mezzofanti was already possessed -(inf. 178.) Both the Grammars named above are in the Mezzofanti Library. -_Catalogo_, pp. 14 and 17. Father Caronni gives a fac-simile of a portion -of the _Tiscara_. - -[323] Sidi Hamudah had been Bey of Tunis from the year 1782, when he -succeeded his brother, Ali Bey. He survived till 1815. His reign is -described as the Augustan age of Tunis (Diary of a Tour in Barbary, -II. 79). Father Caronni tells of him that when one of his generals,—a -Christian,—was about to become a Mahomedan in the hope of ingratiating -himself with Hamudah, he rebuked the renegade for his meanness. “A hog,” -said he, “remains always a hog in my eyes, even though he has lost his -tail.” - -[324] This month is called in the common Arabic of Egypt _Gumada_. There -are two of the Mahomedan months called by this name, _Gumada-l-Oola_, and -_Gumada-t-Taniyeh_ (Lane’s Modern Egyptians, I. 330). The latter, which -is the sixth month of the year, is the one meant here. As the Mahomedan -year consists of only three hundred and fifty days, it is hardly -necessary to say that its months do not permanently correspond with those -of our year. They retrograde through the several seasons during a cycle -of thirty-three years. - -[325] The year of the Hegira, 1219, corresponds with A.D. 1804. - -[326] Ragguaglio del Viaggio, vol. II. p. 140-1. Milan 1806.—The book, -though exceedingly rambling and discursive, is not uninteresting. The -second part contains the Author’s antiquarian speculations, which -curiously anticipate some of the results of the recent explorations at -Tunis. - -[327] Moore’s “Diary.” III. 138. - -[328] This book is still in the Mezzofanti Library. It is entitled -_Anthologia Persiana: Seu selecta e diversis Persicis Auctoribus in -Latinum translata, 4to._ Vienna, 1778. See the “Catalogo della Libreria -del Card. Mezzofanti,” p. 109. - -[329] Bodoni was the printer of De Rossi’s “Epithalamium” of Prince -Charles Emmanuel, in twenty-five languages, alluded to in page 33. I -should say however, that some of his classics,—especially his “Virgilii -Opera,” although beautiful specimens of typography, have but little -critical reputation. - -[330] “Grammatica Linguæ Mauro-Arabicæ, juxta vernaculi Idiomatis Usum.” -4to. Vienna, 1800. See the “Catalogo della Libreria Mezzofanti” p. 14. - -[331] “Institutiones Linguæ Turcicæ, cum Rudimentis parallelis Linguarum -Arabicæ et Persicæ.” 2 vols. 4to. Vienna, 1756. “Catalogo,” p. 36. - -[332] An intended reprint of the edition of the _Divan_, which was -published at Calcutta, 1791. - -[333] Probably the “Lexicon Hebraicum Selectum;” or the “Dissertation on -an edition of the Koran,” both of which were published at Parma, in 1805. -See “Catalogo della Lib. Mezzofanti,” p. 17 and p. 40. - -[334] It was on occasion of one of Volta’s demonstrations that Napoleon -made the comparison which has since become celebrated. “Here, doctor,” -said he, to his physician Corvisart, pointing to the Voltaic pile; “here -is the image of life! The vertebral column is the pile: the liver is -the negative, the bladder, the positive pole.” See Whewell’s Inductive -Sciences, III. 87. - -[335] For instance among the books which he asks the Count in this -letter to send, are the works of “_l’immortale Haüy_”—the celebrated -Abbé Haüy, who after Romè de l’Isle, is the founder of the science of -Crystallography, and who at this time was at the height of his brilliant -career of discovery. (Whewell’s “Inductive Sciences” III. 222.) Haüy’s -works were intended for his friend Ranzani. - -[336] He alludes to the _Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana_. -Joseph Assemani’s nephew, Stephen Evodius, compiled a catalogue of the -Oriental MSS. at Florence. - -[337] The exact title is “Geschichte der Scherifen, oder der Könige des -jetzt regierendes Hauses zu Marokko.” It was published, not at Vienna, as -this letter supposes, but at Agram, in 1801. - -[338] A Moorish physician of Cordova, in the twelfth century, variously -called _Albucasa_, _Buchasis_, _Bulcaris_, _Gafar_; but properly _Abul -Cassem Khalaf Ben Abbas_. There are many early Latin translations of -his work. A very curious edition, with wood-cuts, (Venice, 1500,) is in -the British Museum. The one referred to in this letter is in Arabic and -Latin, 2 vols. 4to. - -[339] “Arabisches, Syrisches, und Chaldäisches Lesebuch, Von Friederich -Theodor Rink und J. Severinus Vater,” Leipsic, 1802. Rink, Professor of -Theology and of Oriental Languages, at Heidelberg, was an orientalist of -considerable eminence. Vater is, of course, the well-known successor of -Adelung as editor of the _Mithridates_. - -[340] Thus, in one of Mezzofanti’s letters, in 1812, he speaks of “Le -molestie che si spesso Le ho date colle mie lettere.” - -[341] M. Patru spent three years in translating Cicero’s “Pro Archia;” -and in the end, had not satisfied himself as to the rendering of the very -first sentence. - -[342] Moore’s _Diary_, III., 183. - -[343] D’ Israeli’s Curiosities of Literature, p. 524. - -[344] Moore’s _Diary_, III., 183. - -[345] See Historisch-Politische Blätter, x. 203-4. - -[346] See Alison’s History of Europe, Vol. vi., p. 371-2. - -[347] Santagata “Sermones Duo,” p. 9. - -[348] By his celebrated Essay “Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der -Indier,” 1808. - -[349] As this letter may perhaps possess some bibliographical value, I -shall translate it here— - -“In making the catalogue for the library of His Excellency Count -Marescalchi, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the kingdom of Italy, I -have discovered a copy of the Siliprandine edition of Petrarch, which -corresponds exactly to the very full description published by you, except -that in this one the table of contents is at the close, in which place -you remark, (at page 35,) it would stand better than in that which it -occupies in your Parma copies. The leaves are 188 in number, as there -happens to be a second blank one before the index. - -“I mention the fact to you at the suggestion of His Excellency; but I -gladly avail myself of the opportunity which the communication affords -me of thanking you in writing for your kindness in presenting me with -your learned letter upon the present edition, together with your valuable -bibliographical notices of the two exceedingly rare editions of the 15th -century,” and of renewing, at the same time, the assurance of my respect -and esteem. - -“Bologna, Nov. 30, 1811.” - -The title of Pezzana’s essay is “Noticie bibliographiche intoruo a due -rarissime edizioni del Petrarca del Secolo xv.,” Parma: 1808. It is -printed by Bodoni. - -[350] _Opere di Pietro Giordani, Vols. I.-VI._ Milano, 1845. Giordani -is mentioned by Byron, (Life and Journals, VI, 262,) as one of the few -“foreign literary men whom he ever could abide.” It is curious that the -only other name which he adds is that of Mezzofanti. - -[351] Opere di Pietro Giordani: Edited (with a biography) by Antonio -Gussalli. Gussalli is also the translator of F. Cordara’s “Expedition of -Charles Edward,” Milan: 1845. See Quarterly Review, lxxix., pp. 141-68. - -[352] Ibid, pp. 235-36 - -[353] Cicognara is mentioned by Byron in the Dedication of the Fourth -Canto of Childe Harold (VIII. 192.) among “the great names which Italy -has still.” - -[354] Ibid, p. 240. - -[355] Opere di Pietro Giordani, II. 231.—Letter to Leopoldo Cicognara, -Jan. 30. - -[356] Santagata “Sermones,” p. 20-1. There is a mixture of humour and -stateliness in the Doctor’s Latin rendering of the exclamation;—“_Ædepol, -est Diabolus!_” - -[357] “Orazioni Funebrie Discorsi Panegyrici, di quelli pronunciati da -Moise S. Beer, già Rabbino Maggiore presso l’Università Israelitica di -Roma.” Fascicolo primo. Livorno 1837. The name _Beer_ is an eminent one -among the German Jews. The dramatist Michael Beer of Berlin; his brother, -William Beer the astronomer; and a second brother, Meyer Beer the -composer, (commonly written as one name, _Meyerbeer_,) have made it known -throughout Europe. Possibly Moses Beer was of the same family. - -[358] See Stolz, “Biografia,” p. 12, Manavit, “Esquisse Historique,” p. -34. - -[359] Memorandum in the archives of the University of Bologna. - -[360] Many of these will be found in Mr. Watts’s interesting paper read -before the Philological Society, January 23, 1852: “On the Extraordinary -Powers of Cardinal Mezzofanti as a Linguist.” Some other notices, not -contained in that Paper, have since been kindly pointed out to me by the -same gentleman. I have been enabled to add several, hitherto unpublished, -certainly not inferior in authority and interest to any of the published -testimonies. - -[361] He is so described by Baron Zach, (Correspondance Astronomique, IV. -145,) who commends the work highly. - -[362] Kephalides, “Reise durch Italien und Sicilien,” vol. I. p. -28. The book is in two volumes, and has no date. The above passage -is quoted in Vulpius’s singular miscellany, “Curiositäten der -physisch-literarisch-artistisch-historischen Vor- und Mit-welt.” Vol. -X. p. 422. The Article contains nothing else of interest regarding -Mezzofanti; but it alludes to some curious examples of extraordinary -powers of memory. - -[363] MS. Memorandum in the University Archives. - -[364] The exact amount I am unable to state. But that, according to our -notions, it was very humble, may be inferred from the fact that, in the -same University and but a short time before, Giordani’s income from the -united offices of Lecturer on Latin and Italian Eloquence and Assistant -Librarian, was but 1800 francs. See his Life by Gussalli, “_Opere_,” Vol. -I., p. 19. - -[365] MS. Memorandum in the University Archives. - -[366] “Tragedie di Sofocle, recate in Versi Italiani da Massimo -Angelelli.” 2 vols., 4to. Bologna, 1823-4. This translation is highly -commended by Federici, in his “Notizie degli Scrittori Greci e delle -Versioni Italiane delle loro Opere,” p. 95. - -[367] See Adelung’s “Mithridates,” II., 723-30. I refer to this passage -particularly, as explaining the peculiar difficulty which Wallachian, as -a spoken language, presents to a foreigner, from _its close resemblance -to other languages_. - -[368] Manavit, p. 37. - -[369] Besides the _Sette Communi_ of Vicenza, there are also -thirteen parishes in the province of Verona, called the _Tredici -Communi_;—evidently of the same Teutonic stock, and a remnant of the same -Roman slaughter. Adelung (II., 215) gives a specimen of each language. -Both are perfectly intelligible to any German scholar: but that of -Verona resembles more nearly the modern form of the German language. -The affinity is much more closely preserved in both, than it is in -the analogous instance of the Roman colony in Transylvania. I may be -permitted to refer to the very similar example of an isolated race and -language which subsisted _among ourselves_ down to the last generation, -in the Baronies of Forth and Bargie in the county of Wexford in Ireland. -The remnant of the first English or Welsh adventurers under Strongbow, -who obtained lands in that district, maintained themselves, through -a long series of generations, distinct in manners, usages, costume, -and even language, both from the Irish population, and, what is more -remarkable, from the _English settlers of all subsequent periods_. -An essay on their peculiar dialect, with a vocabulary and a metrical -specimen, by Vallancey, will be found in the Transactions of the Royal -Irish Academy, Vol. II. (Antiquities), pp. 194-3. - -[370] Eustace’s Classical Tour in Italy, I., 142. The fact of Frederic’s -visit is mentioned by Maffei, in his Verona Illustrata. - -[371] Memoirs of Robert Southey, Vol. V., p. 60. - -[372] Life of Michael Angelo Buonarroti, 2 vols., 8vo. London, 1857. - -[373] Treasures of Art in England. By Dr. Waagen. Vol. III., pp. 187-94. - -[374] I find the work (Croker’s Edition, London, 1847) in the Catalogue -of the “Libreria Mezzofanti,” p. 72. - -[375] I may add that, in order to guard against any possible -misapprehension of Mr. Harford’s opinion, I called his attention to the -doubt which has arisen on the subject. In reply Mr. Harford assured me -that he himself heard Mezzofanti _speak_ Welsh at his first visit to -Bologna, in 1817. - -[376] Letters from the North of Italy, Vol. II., p. 54. - -[377] See Life, IV., p. 32. He had not visited Bologna in the interval. - -[378] Perhaps it might be inferred from the false spelling of the -name—the use of _ph_ for _f_—(a blunder which violates so fundamental a -rule of Italian orthography as to betray a mere tyro in the study) that -this passage was penned soon after Byron’s arrival in Italy. But Byron’s -orthography was never a standard. - -[379] Manavit, p. 106. - -[380] Life and Works, IV., 262-3. It may be worth while to note this -curious and characteristic passage, as an example of what Byron has -been so often charged with—unacknowledged, (and perhaps unconscious) -plagiarisms from authors or works which are but little known. The idea of -“a universal interpreter at the time of the tower of Babel,” is copied -literally from Pope’s metrical version of the second satire of Dr. Donne, -to the hero of which the same illustration is applied, in exactly the -same way. - - “Thus others’ talents having nicely shown, - He came by sure transition to his own; - Till I cried out: ‘You prove yourself so able, - _Pity you was not druggerman_ [dragoman] _at Babel!_ - For had they found a linguist half so good, - I make no question but the Tower had stood.’” - -[381] Yet not without foundation in fact. My friend Mr. James E. Doyle, -was assured by the late Dr. Charles R. Walsh (an English surgeon of great -ability, who fell a victim to his exertions as an officer of the Board of -Health, during the last cholera in London), that he once heard Mezzofanti -“doing” the slang of a London cabman in great perfection. - -[382] Gaume, “Les Trois Rome,” II., p. 415. - -[383] Santagata, “Sermones Duo,” p. 11. - -[384] Santagata, pp. 19-20. - -[385] Bologna, 1820.—It was on the occasion of the celebration of -Father Aponte’s “Jubilee”—the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as -priest—that Mezzofanti addressed to him the Hebrew Psalm which will be -found in the Appendix. - -[386] Reise durch Italien, I. p. 30-2. - -[387] Biographie Universelle (Brussels Edition), XIX., 50-1. - -[388] Italy, I., 292. - -[389] Lady Morgan’s Italy, Vol. I., p. 200. - -[390] This was not a mere joke. The Bolognese dialect has so many -peculiarities that, at least by any other than an Italian, it might well -deserve to be specially enumerated as a distinct acquisition. It has even -a kind of literature of its own;—a comedy of the 16th century, entitled -_Filolauro_; a version of the _Gerusalemme Liberata_; and several other -works named by Adelung (II., 514). The Bolognese Pater Noster is as -follows:— - -“Pader noster, ch’ si in cil, si pur santifica al voster nom; vegna ’l -voster reyn; sia fatta la vostra volontà, com in cil, cosi in terra; ’l -noster pan quotidian daz incu; e perdonaz i noster debit, sicom no alteri -perdonen ai noster debitur; en c’indusi in Tentazion; ma liberaz da mal. -Amen.” Adelung, II., 515. - -[391] Molbech’s Reise giennem en Deel af Tydskland, Frankrige England, og -Italien, i Aarene 1819 og 1820, vol. iii. p. 319, and following. - -[392] The _Danske Ordbog_; first published in Copenhagen in 1833. The -veteran author, now in his seventy-first year, is actively employed in -preparing a new edition with large additions and improvements. - -[393] Manavit, p. 50. - -[394] Ibid, p. 51. - -[395] Letter of the Abate Matranga, dated August 17, 1855. - -[396] Correspondance Astronomique, February 20. The reader may be puzzled -at this seemingly anticipatory date; but the issue of the journal was -extremely irregular, and the February number was in reality not published -till after September in that year. - -[397] Correspondance Astronomique, vol. iv. pp. 191-2. - -[398] Correspondance Astronomique, vol. v. p. 160. - -[399] Correspondance Astronomique, v. 163. - -[400] Vol. I. pp. 481-2, London, 1844. - -[401] In accounting for the appearance of such a narrative in a Journal -with a purely scientific title, Admiral Smyth observes, that “it was one -of Von Zach’s axioms that all true friends of science should try to keep -it afloat in society, as fishermen do their nets, by attaching pieces of -cork to the seine; and therefore he embodied a good deal of anecdote in -his monthly journal of astronomical correspondence, a most delightful and -useful periodical.” - -[402] Mezzofanti and his friend presented to the Admiral the first volume -of the “Ephemerides,” which contained the coefficients for the principal -stars to be observed during five years—there were still at that time -three years to run;—and expressed a hope that England would contribute -funds towards the cost of the printing. On returning to England, the -admiral gave this copy to the Rev. Dr. William Pearson, then engaged -in the publication of his elaborate work on Practical Astronomy. Dr. -Pearson, (at p. 495 of the first volume,) describing a table of 520 -zodiacal stars, thus acknowledges his obligations to that work. “The same -page also contains the N.E. angle that the star’s meridian makes with the -ecliptic, and the annual variation of that angle; the principal columns -of which have been taken from the _Bononiæ Ephemerides_ for 1817-1822, -computed by Pietro Caturegli, which computations have greatly facilitated -our labours.” - -[403] Borrow’s Gipsies in Spain, p. 240. Ample specimens and descriptions -of it are given by Adelung, vol. I. pp. 244-52. It may, perhaps, be -necessary to add that neither of these dialects, nor indeed of any of the -dialects used by European gipsies, bears the least resemblance (although -often confounded with it) to the “thieves’ slang,” which is used by -robbers and other _mauvais sujets_ in various countries,—the “Rothwälsch” -(Red Italian) of Germany, the “Argot” of France, the “Germania” of -Spain, and the “Gergo” of Italy. All these, like the English “slang,” -consist chiefly of words borrowed from the languages of the several -countries in which they prevail, applied in a hidden sense known only -to the initiated. On the contrary the gipsy idiom is almost a language -properly so called. See a singular chapter in Borrow’s Gipsies in Spain, -242-57. For a copious vocabulary of the “Argot” of the French thieves, -see M. Nisard’s most curious and amusing _Litterature du Colportage_, II. -383-403. - -[404] Blume’s Iter Italicum, II. p. 152. - -[405] In 1823. See an interesting biography in the Memorie di Modena. - -[406] Manavit, p. 51. - -[407] I may preserve here an impromptu Greek distich of Mezzofanti’s, -addressed to Cavedoni on the publication of his “Memoir on the -antiquities of the Museum of Modena,” which, although commonplace enough -in sentiment, at least illustrates his curious facility of versification. - - “Εις Kαιλεστινον Kαυεδόνιον. - Μνήματα τῶν πάλαι ἄνθρwπων σοφὸς ὅσσ’ ἀναφαίνεις, - Ἔκ χρόνος ὂυ πέρθει· σὄν δὲ κλέος θαλέθει.” - -It was an impromptu in the literal sense of the word, being thrown off -without a moment’s thought, and in the midst of a group of friends. His -friend Ferrucci rendered it into the following Latin distich. - - Celestino Cavedonio. - Omnia que prudens aperis monumenta priorum - Ævo intacta manent: hinc tibi fama viget. - -[408] “L’Eneide di Virgilio, recata in versi Italiani, da Annibale -Caro,” 2 vols. folio. It was printed by De Romanis. The duchess was -the Lady Elizabeth Hervey, daughter of the episcopal Earl of Bristol; -and after the death of her first husband, Mr. Forster, had married -the Duke of Devonshire. She is the true heroine of Gibbon’s ludicrous -love-scene at Lausanne, described by Lord Brougham, but by him related -of Mademoiselle Susan Curchod, afterwards Madame Necker. See an article -in the Biographie Universelle, (lxii, p. 452,) by the Chevalier Artand -de Montor; also “Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, (vol. i., p. 64,) by -an Octogenarian,” (the late Mr. James Roche, of Cork, the J. R. of the -Gentleman’s Magazine, and a frequent contributor to the Dublin Review, -and other periodicals)—a repertory of curious literary and personal -anecdotes, as well of solid and valuable information. - -[409] This is probably the Grammar of the Mahratta language, published by -the Propaganda, in 1778. The name is sometimes latinized in this form. -Adelung, I., 220. - -[410] Most likely Ludolf’s, Francfort, 1698. - -[411] By Barth. Ziegenbolg, Halle, 1716. - -[412] Bernard Havestadt, “Descriptio Status tum Naturalis, tum civilis, -tum Moralis, Regni Populique Chilensis,” Munster, 1777. It contains a -Chilian Grammar and Vocabulary, together with a Catechism in prose, and -also in verse. - -[413] Probably the Catechism in the Moxa (South American) language, -mentioned by Hervas. See Adelung, III., 564. - -[414] Fr. Jacobs, Vermischte Schriften, vol. vi. p. 517, and following. - -[415] Stolz. _Biografia_, p. 10. For the details, however, I am indebted -to an interesting communication from the abate Mazza, Vice-Rector of the -Pontifical Seminary at Bologna. - -[416] The author of this version, Ercole Faello, is not mentioned by -Tiraboschi, nor can I find any other notice of him. His version has no -value, except perhaps as a bibliographical curiosity; and Mezzofanti’s -criticism of it in his letter to Cavedoni, is the most judicious that -could be offered—the simple recital of a few sentences as a specimen of -its obscure and involved style. The Tetrasticha, especially, deserves -a better rendering. It consists of fifty-nine iambic tetrastichs, many -of which, besides the solid instruction which they embody, are full of -simple beauty. The Monosticha is chiefly notable as an ancient example -of an acrostic poem on a spiritual subject. It consists of twenty-four -iambic verses, commencing in succession with the successive letters of -the alphabet, thus:— - - Ἀρχήν ἁπάντω· καὶ τὲλος ποιὂυ Θεόν· - Βίου τὸ κέρδος ὲκβιοῦ καθ’ ἡμέραν. κ.τ.λ. - -Faello’s version appears not to have been known to the Benedictine -editors. - -[417] See _Catalogo della Libreria_, p. 65. - -[418] For an account of these books see Father Vincenzo Sangermano’s -_Relazione del Regno Barmano_, Rome, 1833. Sangermano was a Barnabite -Father, and had been for many years a missionary in Ava and Pegu. He -states that he himself translated these sacred books. (p. 359.) His -orthography of the names is slightly different from Mezzofanti’s. - -[419] Idler in Italy, III. p. 321. - -[420] Padre Scandellari died in December, 1831. He is spoken of in terms -of high praise in the Gazzetta di Bologna for Dec. 27. - -[421] Madame de Chaussegros was the widow of the officer by whom Toulon -was surrendered to the English, in 1793. - -[422] In the hope of arriving at a still more accurate estimate of -Mezzofanti’s performance in German conversation, I wrote to request of -Dr. Tholuck a note of the “four minor mistakes” to which he alluded. -Unfortunately the memorandum which he had made at the time, although he -recollects to have observed it quite recently in his papers, has been -mislaid, as has also been the Persian distich which Mezzofanti composed -during the interview. - -[423] At the time of the Restoration, Cornish was still a living -language, especially in the West; but, a century later it had quite -disappeared, its sole living representative being an old fish-woman, -Dolly Pentrath, who was still able to curse and scold in her expressive -vernacular. See Adelung, II. 152. - -[424] It was in great part from these papers that Cav. Minarelli compiled -the list of the several languages cultivated at various times by Cardinal -Mezzofanti, to which I shall have occasion to refer soon after. - -[425] There is another circumstance of Dr. Tholuck’s narrative which it -is not easy to reconcile with the account already cited (p. 239,) from -M. Molbech’s Travels;—namely, that “when addressed in Danish he replied -in Swedish,” since the former was the only language in which, during an -interview of about two hours, Mezzofanti conversed with M. Molbech. In -order to remove all uncertainty as to this point, I have had inquiry of -M. Molbech in person, through the kind offices of the Rev. Dr. Grüder, -a learned German Missionary resident at Copenhagen, who himself knew -Cardinal Mezzofanti, and whose testimony to the purity and fluency of -his Eminence’s German conversation I may add to the many already known. -M. Molbech reiterates and confirms all the statements made by him in -his ‘Travels.’ He has even taken the trouble to forward a note in his -own hand-writing, referring to the page in the Transactions of the -Philological Society, which contains M. Watts’s translation from his -book. He adds, that when in 1847, his son waited upon the Cardinal in -Rome, for the purpose of presenting him some of M. Molbech’s works, he -found his Eminence’s recollection of the interview perfectly fresh and -accurate as to all its details. - -[426] The reader will scarcely agree with this observation of Dr. -Tholuck. The Quichua was one of the languages which, as the Dr. -testifies, Mezzofanti only professed to know _imperfectly_. It must be -remembered too, that, during his early years he had many and prolonged -opportunities of intercourse with Father Escobar and other South American -Jesuit missionaries, who had settled at Bologna, and from whom he may -have acquired the language, much more solidly than he could be supposed -to learn it from a few casual interviews such as Dr. Tholuck most -probably contemplated. - -[427] The Gulistan is found in the Cardinal’s catalogue, p. 109. - -[428] p. 26. Oddly enough they are classed among the _Bohemian_ books. - -[429] _Friesche Rymlerije._ It is mentioned by Adelung, II. p. 237. - -[430] Vol. xvi., p. 229-30. - -[431] See a very curious chapter in Tiraboschi, vol. vii., p. 139-201; -which Disraeli has, as usual, turned freely to his own account in the -Curiosities of Literature, p. 348-54. - -[432] This is the origin of the nom-de-guerre, La Lasca—(_the Roach_,) by -which the too notorious novelist, Grazzini, chose to designate himself as -member of this society. - -[433] All’ Em̅o Signor Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, Applausi dei -Filopieri, 8vo. Bologna, 1838. - -[434] Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration; from the Sanscrit of -Brahmegupta and Bhascara. Translated by H. T. Colebroke, London, 1817. -The _Bija Gannita_ had already been published by Mr. Strachey in 1813. -In referring to these Hindoo treatises on Mathematics, I may add, that -an interesting account of the Hindoo Logic, contributed by Professor Max -Müller, is appended to Mr. Thompson’s “Outline of the Laws of Thought,” -(pp. 369-89,) London, 1853. The analogies of all these treatises with -the works of the Western writers on the same sciences, are exceedingly -curious and interesting. - -[435] Some curious and interesting remarks on the peculiarity of the -Indian languages here mentioned by M. Libri, will be found in Du -Ponceau’s “Memoire sur le Systeme Grammaticale des Langues Indiennes,” -pp. 143, and foll. Some words in the Chippewa language contain _thirteen_ -or _fourteen_ syllables; but they should be called phrases rather -than words. M. Du Ponceau gives an example from the language of the -Indians of Massachusetts—the word _wutappesittukquissunnuhwehtunkquoh_, -“_genuflecting_!” p. 143. The same characteristic is found in the -Mexican and Central American languages. In Mexican “a parish-priest” is -“_notlazomanitzteopitzkatatzins_!” - -[436] While M. Libri was writing this letter, he learned that Count -Pepoli was in possession of a short autobiographical sketch of -Mezzofanti. The count subsequently was good enough to permit me to -inspect this fragment; but I was mortified to find that it was not by the -Cardinal himself, but by some member of his family. It is very short, and -contains no fact which I had not previously known. - -[437] See the series of the _Gazzetta di Bologna_; see also Spalding’s -“Italy and the Italian Islands,” for a compendious but accurate summary -of the facts. - -[438] See the official announcements in the _Diario di Roma_ in March and -April. - -[439] _Diario di Roma_, May 9, 1831. - -[440] Mijne Reis naar Rome in het voorjaar van 1837. II. p. 35. - -[441] The Memoirs of Father Ripa have enjoyed great popularity in the -abridged form in which they are published in Murray’s Home and Colonial -Library. This abridgment, however, gives but little idea of the work -itself. - -[442] This Bull is in the _Bullarium_ of the Propaganda. - -[443] Epistola Innocent III. vol. II. 723. - -[444] According to my informant at Naples, the affection under which -Mezzofanti laboured is described by the local phrase “_rompergli le -chiancarelle_,”—a Neapolitan idiom which expresses something like our own -phrase that “his brains were addled.” It was ascribed to the excessive -difficulty of the Chinese, and to his own immoderate application. My -informant also states that, at his worst moments, his mind was recalled -at once from its wandering by the mere mention of the name of the Holy -Father, to whom he was most tenderly attached. - -[445] Fleck’s Wissenschaftliche Reise, I. p. 94. - -[446] After the Revolution of 1848-9 the Chinese students for a time -ceased to be sent to the Propaganda. Their entire course was completed in -the Neapolitan College. They have again resumed their attendance. - -[447] Letters and Journals, III. 313, 315, 334. - -[448] On the extraordinary Powers of Card. Mezzofanti, p. 122. - -[449] Annales d’un Physicien Voyageur, par F. Forster, M.D. pp. 60-1, -Bruges, 1851. - -[450] Miss Mitford, in her “Recollections of a Literary Life,” (vol. II. -203) relates this anecdote differently. She has confounded together two -different periods at which Dr. Baines met Mezzofanti—the first at Bologna -when this incident occurred, the second many years later, when Mezzofanti -was Librarian of the Vatican. The anecdote, as related above, was -communicated to me by the late Rev. Dr. Cox, of Southampton, who learned -it from the bishop himself. - -[451] The relation of the English language to the ancient British tongue -is discussed by Latham, “The English Language,” vol. I. p. 344-5. - -[452] Des Caractères Physiologiques des Races Humaines considérés dans -leur Rapports avec l’Histoire. Par. W. F. Edwards, p. 102. - -[453] It can scarcely be necessary to allude to Mgr. Malou’s admirable -book On the Reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue. His interesting -essay On the Authorship of the Imitation of Christ, is less known. - -[454] For this and the following notices I am indebted to the kind -offices of my friend Canon Donnet of Brussels. - -[455] - - “God calls, and points out the path of perfection, - Hearken my friend, to His voice—the voice of Truth.” - -[456] Mijne Reis naar Rom in het Voorjahr van 1837. Door Dr. Jan J. F. -Wap., 2 vols., 8vo., Breda, 1839. - -[457] In the year 1837. This is a slight mistake: he was only sixty-three. - -[458] These books are found upon the Catalogue, p. 105. - -[459] Afterwards Professor in the Catholic Seminary of Warmond, in -Holland, and at present Curé at Soest, in the province of Utrecht. - -[460] “Let him who dares to doubt the gift of Pentecost, stand ashamed -and confounded before the mind of Mezzofanti. In him, let him honour that -man who is fit to be the earth’s interpreter—whose intellect penetrates -the language-secret of all nations. - -“Accept, son of the South, the respectful salutation of the North. But -think, while your eye beholds my poor address, that if the Batavians’ -language lacks Italian melody, their tongue and soul are both averse to -flattery.” - -Mezzofanti’s reply:— - -“Sir, when first the day my eyes were cast upon your beautiful address, -I was quite enraptured by your great kindness. It so raised up my mind -and heart, that, although master of fifty languages, my tongue remained -speechless—But lest I should seem an ingrate, I beg you just to read my -heart.” - -[461] This is not quite correctly cited—The passage is in the sixth of -the Elegies, “aus Rom,” [vol. I. p. 48. Paris, 1836.] - - ————So hab’ ich von Herzen, - Rothstrumpf immer gehasst und violet-strumpf dazu. - -It certainly deserves all the ridicule which Mezzofanti heaps on it, and -might well make - - ————the Muses, on their racks, - Scream like the winding of ten thousand jacks. - -The allusion to ‘red stocking’ and ‘violet stocking,’ is one of Goethe’s -habitual sneers at the Catholic prelacy. - -[462] The idea which Mezzofanti throws out here as to the seeming -national unconsciousness of the metrical capabilities of the Magyar -language is very curiously developed by Mr. Watts, in a paper recently -read before the Philological Society. Transactions of Phil. Society, -1855, pp. 285-310. - -[463] Steger’s Ergänzungs-Conversations-Lexicon. Vol. IX., pp. 395-7. The -work which is intended as a supplement to the existing Encyclopædias, is -a repertory of interesting and novel information. - -[464] The only Maltese books in the Mezzofanti catalogue are the New -Testament; Panzavecchia’s Grammatica della Lingua Maltese, Malta, 1845, -and Vassalli’s Lexicon. - -[465] Letter dated February 18, 1857. - -[466] Letter dated February 20, 1857. - -[467] See Biographie Universelle, art. _Vella_. Also Adelung’s -Mithridates, I. 416. - -[468] Di Marco Polo, e degli altri Viaggiatori Veneziani, 2 vols., 4to, -Venice, 1818. - -[469] Signor Drach is the author of an erudite Essay, “Du Divorce dans la -Synagogue,” and of several interesting dissertations on the Talmud. - -[470] One of the victims in 1840, of the tyrannical church policy of the -late Czar in Poland and Polish Russia—He was exiled to Siberia. - -[471] I have used the translation published in Mr. Watts’s paper, -restoring, however, a few sentences which were there omitted. - -[472] Fleck’s Wissenschaftliche Reise, I. pp. 93-5. - -[473] Miss Mitford’s Recollections of a Literary Life, II. p. 203. - -[474] See Supra, pp. 143-4. - -[475] The Catalogue (p. 33,) contains the complete edition, 5 vols., -8vο., Stockholm, 1826; also the works of Kellgren, Leopold, and others. -It also comprises the Frithiofs-Saga, and other early Scandinavian -remains. - -[476] Letter of M. D’Abbadie, May 6, 1855. - -[477] The Abate Matranga is often mentioned with high praise by Cardinal -Mai in his prefaces. He is favourably known to Greek scholars besides -by his _Anecdota Græca_, 2 vols. 8vo., Rome, 1850, consisting of the -_Allegoriæ Homericæ_ of Tzetzes, and many other remains of ancient -scholiast commentators upon Homer, and of some unpublished Anacreontic -poems of the Byzantine period. - -[478] Moore (Diary, III. p. 183,) mentions him as “the Abate Meli, a -Sicilian poet, of whom he had never heard before.” He is, nevertheless, -a voluminous writer of pastorals, sonnets, ballads, and odes, sacred and -profane. His largest poem, however, is an epic of twelve cantos on the -History of Don Quixote, in _ottava rima_. After a little trouble it may -be read without much difficulty by any one acquainted with the ordinary -Italian, and is highly amusing. Meli’s works are collected into one vol. -royal 8vo., Palermo, 1846. - -[479] See account in _Civiltà Cattolica_ (by F. Bresciani) vii., p. 569. - -[480] See Adelung’s _Mithridates_, vol. iii, part iii, p. 186. - -[481] Ibid, p. 187. - -[482] Since the above was written, a case somewhat similar has been -mentioned to me by the Rev Dr. Murray of Dublin, also a student of the -Propaganda. A young Mulatto of the Dutch West Indian Island of Curaçoa, -named Enrico Gomez, arrived about a fortnight before Epiphany, 1845. -He spoke no language except the “Nigger Dutch,” of his native island. -Mezzofanti took him into his hands, and before the day of Academy -(the Sunday after Epiphany) he had not only established a mode of -communication with him, but had learned his language, and even composed -for him a short poetical piece, which Gomez recited at the Academy! -A third case, of three Albanian youths, is mentioned in the Civiltà -Cattolica, VII. p. 571. - -[483] These youths are mentioned in “Shea’s Catholic Missions among the -Indian Tribes” (p. 387,) a work of exceeding interest and most carefully -executed. - -[484] Sketches in Canada, pp. 214-15. - -[485] See his Memoire sur le Systeme Grammaticale, p. 97, also p. 306, -and in the appendix _passim_. - -[486] See Du Ponceau, Memoire, p. 294-5. - -[487] Not only are the inflexions entirely different from those of the -languages to which we are accustomed, but the very use of inflexions is -altogether peculiar. For example, in the Chippewa language there is an -inflexion of nouns, similar to our conjugation of verbs, by which all the -states of the noun are expressed. Thus the word _man_ can be inflected -for person, to signify, ‘_I am_ a man,’ ‘_thou art_ a man,’ ‘_he is_ a -man;’ &c. So also the inflexions of the verb transitive vary according to -the gender of the object—See Mrs. Jameson, p. 196. Schoolcraft ascribes -the same character to the entire Algonquin family—See Du Ponceau, pp. -130-5. - -[488] Letter of M. d’Abbadie, dated May 4, 1855. - -[489] Letter of May 23rd, 1855. - -[490] The Signor Churi mentioned by M. Fernando is the author of a -curious and interesting volume of travels—“The Sea Nile, the Desert -and Nigritia,” published in 1853. Being obliged by ill health to leave -the Propaganda, and unwilling for many reasons to return to his native -Lebanon, he settled in London as a teacher of oriental languages. One -of his pupils in Arabic, Captain Peel, engaged him in 1850, as his -interpreter in a tour of Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land, and afterwards, -in 1851, in an expedition to the interior of Africa, which forms the -subject of Signor Churi’s volume. - -[491] I have been assured by M. Bauer, a student of the Propaganda in -1855, that he often conversed with the Cardinal in Hungarian, during the -years 1847 and 1848. - -[492] A comparative Grammar of the Dravidian, or South-Indian Family of -Languages. By the Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A., London, 1856. - -[493] In a letter dated Calcutta, September 20, 1855. - -[494] Letter dated Calcutta, September 22, 1855. - -[495] See a most amusing account by Père Bourgeois, in the Lettres -Edifiantes, of his first Chinese Sermon, which D’Israeli has translated. -An interesting exposition of the difficulties of the Chinese language is -found in Grüber’s Relazione di Cina, Florence, 1697. - -[496] Dated Rome, May 23, 1855. - -[497] What Europeans call the Mandarin language is by the Chinese -designated Houan-Hoa, or universal language. It is spoken by instructed -persons throughout the Empire, although with a marked difference of -pronunciation in the northern and the southern provinces. Besides this, -there are dialects peculiar to the provinces of Kouang-tong, and Fo-kien, -as well as several minor dialects. See Huc’s Chinese Empire, I. p. 319-20. - -[498] See Adelung, Mithridates, III. part I. pp. 207-24. - -[499] Letter of February 7, 1857. I had submitted these pieces to Dr. -Livingston; but as he, having been ill all the time he remained in -Angola, had never learned that language, he was good enough to send the -papers to Mr. Brande. The latter, besides kindly communicating to me his -own opinion regarding them, has taken the trouble to forward them to -a friend at Loando, to be submitted to an intelligent native in whose -judgment Mr. Brande has full confidence; but as yet (March 15, 1858,) no -reply has reached me. - -[500] See an excellent article in Morone’s “Dizionario di Erudizione -Storico-ecclesiastica,” as also the Kirchen-Lexicon, vol. II. 344 and -foll. - -[501] A friend of mine who chanced to pass as one of these carriages -(which had been dismantled preparatory to its being newly fitted up,) -was on its way to the Pontifical Factory for the purpose, overheard some -idle boys who were looking on, laughing at its heavy, lumbering look, and -saying to each other: “_Che barcaccia!_” (What a shocking old boat!). He -was greatly amused at the indignation with which the coachman resented -this impertinent criticism. - -[502] A sample of Mezzofanti’s own performance as a Filopiero—his reply -to the verses of his friend, Count Marchesi—is given by Marchetti, in his -_Pagine Monumentali_, p. 150. - - De tuoi versi il contento, - Cosi nell’ alma io sento, - Che versi rendo gratulando teco, - Ma oime’! ch’ io son qual eco, - Che molti suoni asconde, - E languida da lungi al fin responde. - -[503] The title is “All’ Ementissimo Signor Cardinale Giuseppe -Mezzofanti, Bolognese, elevato all’ Onore della Porpora Romana, Applausi -dei Filopieri, 8vo., Bologna, 1838.” A similar tribute from the pen of -Doctor Veggetti, who had succeeded Mezzofanti as Librarian, appeared -a short time before, entitled “Tributo di Lode a Giuseppe Mezzofanti, -Bolognese, creato Cardinale il Giorno 12 Febbraro, 1838.” Bologna, 1838. - -[504] Stolz, Biografia, p. 7. - -[505] A bon-mot on occasion of Monsignor Mezzofanti’s elevation, which -I heard from Cardinal Wiseman, and which is ascribed to the good old -Cardinal Rivarola, is worth recording, although the point is not fully -appreciable, except in Italian. - -Mezzofanti, from his childhood, had worn ear-rings, as a preventive, -according to the popular notion, against an affection of the eyes, to -which he had been subject. Some one observed that it was strange to see a -“Cardinal wearing ear-rings,” (_chi porta orecchini_.) - -“Not at all,” rejoined Cardinal Rivarola, “Ci han da essere tanti uomini -in dignità che portano _orecchine_ (”long ears“—”asses ears,“) e perchè -non ci ha da essere uno almeno chi porti _orecchini_? (ear-rings.) There -are many dignitaries who have _orecchine_, (asses-ears), and why should -not there be at least one with _orecchini_—ear-rings?” - -[506] Perhaps it is not generally known that the brothers Antoine and -Arnauld d’Abbadie, although French by name, fortune, and education, are -not only children of an Irish mother, but were born, and spent the first -years of childhood, in Dublin. M. Antoine d’Abbadie lived in Dublin till -his eighth year. See his letter to the Athenæum, (Cairo, Nov. 15, 1848,) -vol. for 1849, p. 93. - -[507] The _Journal Asiatique_, passim; the Athenæum, 1839, 1845, 1849: -the Geographical Society of France, and of England, &c. - -[508] M. d’Abbadie collected with great care, as opportunity offered, -vocabularies, more or less extensive, of a vast number of the languages -of this region of Africa. His collections, also, on the natural history -and geography, as well as on the religious and social condition of -the country, are most extensive and valuable. The work in which he is -understood to be engaged upon the subject, is looked for with much -interest. - -[509] When M. d’Abbadie, in one of his letters to the Athenæum, first -alluded to the Ilmorma, its existence, as a distinct language, was -absolutely denied. - -[510] One of the writers on the Basque Grammar, Manuel de Larramendi, -entitles his book, Impossible vencido, (“The Impossible Overcome,”) 8vo. -Salamanca, 1729. Some idea, though a faint one, of the difficulty of this -Grammar, may be formed from the number and names of the words of a Basque -verb. They are no less than eleven; and are denominated by grammarians, -the Indicative, the Consuetudinal, the Potential, the Voluntary, -the Necessary (coactive,) the Imperative, Subjunctive, Optative, -_Penitudinary_ (!) and Infinitive.—The variety of tenses in Basque also, -is very great. But it should be added that the structure of these moods -and tenses is described as singularly philosophical, and full of harmony -and of analogy. - -[511] Letter of M. d’Abbadie, May 6, 1855. - -[512] Manavit, p. 109. - -[513] Olaszhoni es Schweizi Vtazas Irta Paget Janosné Wesselenyi -Polyxena, 1842, vol. I., p. 180. Mr. Watts’s Memoir, p. 121. - -[514] This book is in the Library Catalogue, p. 138. - -[515] Letter of June 6, 1855. - -[516] Volume X. (1842.) p. 227—279-80. - -[517] Christmas Holidays at Rome. By the Rev. Ingraham Kip, edited by the -Rev. W. Sewell, p. 175. - -[518] Letter of October 11, 1857. - -[519] Letter of Feb. 23, 1847. - -[520] Italy I. 292. - -[521] I think it was the late Rev. John Smyth, a clergyman of Dublin, -who, while I myself was in Rome, conversed with Cardinal Mezzofanti under -the impression that he was speaking with the English Cardinal Acton. - -[522] In 3 vols., 12mo., London, 1757. It contains the original and -the translation in parallel pages. The author was Sieur Townley the -well-known collector, and a member of the distinguished catholic family -of that name. The translation is certainly most curiously exact in letter -and in spirit, and fully deserves all that Mr. Badeley has said of it. - -[523] The exhibition at present, and for some years back, is held in the -church of the Propaganda. - -[524] Of the princely house of Massimo, which is said to claim descent -from the great _Cunctator_. The marked contrast between the diminutive -stature of the Cardinal, and the noble and commanding figure of the -Prince, his elder brother, gave occasion to one of those lively _mots_ -for which Rome is celebrated. The brothers were called, “Il Principe -_Massimo_, ed il Cardinal _Menomo_.” - -[525] These were (1,) Hebrew; (2,) Syriac; (3,) Samaritan; (4,) ancient -Chaldee; (5,) Modern Chaldee; (6,) Arabic; (7,) ancient Armenian; (8,) -modern Armenian; (9,) Turkish; (10,) Persian; (11,) Albanian; (12,) -Sabean;—a dialect of Syriac, which Adelung prefers to call Zabian;—(13,) -Maltese; (14,) Greek; (15,) Romaic; (16,) Ethiopic; (17,) Coptic; (18,) -Amariña; (19,) Tamul; (20,) Koordish; (21,) Kunkan,—one of the dialects -of the Bengal coast;—(22,) Georgian; (23,) Welsh; (24,) Irish; (25,) -Gælic; (26,) English; (27,) Illyrian; (28,) Bulgarian; (29,) Polish; -(30,) Peguan; (31,) Swedish; (32,) ancient German; (33,) modern German; -(34,) Swiss German; (35,) Dutch; (36,) Spanish; (37,) Catalan; (38,) -Portuguese; (39,) French; (40,) ancient Chinese; (41,) Chinese of -Tchang-si; (42,) Chinese of Canton. - -I was somewhat surprised to miss Russian from the catalogue. In the -Academy of the present year, it appears in its proper place. See -“Academia Poliglotta nel Collegio Urbano de Prop. Fide, per l’Epifania -del 1858,” p. 38. - -[526] This youth, as I afterwards learned, was called by the strange -name, Moses Ngnau. He was a native of Pegu, and returned to his own -mission in 1850; but unhappily his career was terminated by an early -death. - -[527] The journals of this week, (March 18,) relate a most astonishing -feat of the great modern chess-player, Dr. Harwitz. He has just played -three games simultaneously, against three most eminent players, without -once seeing any of the boards, or even entering the room in which the -moves were made, during the entire time! He won two of the games—the -third being a drawn one. - -[528] The most recent information regarding this curious subject is -contained in a report by Dr. Aufrecht, which Bunsen has printed in his -Christianity and Mankind, III., p. 87, and foll; See also Mommsen’s -Unter-italische Dialekten. - -[529] Letter of January 15, 1857. - -[530] Cardinal Wiseman told me of a priest who, after having lived for -twenty years in France, was mortified to find himself discovered as -an Englishman, by the way in which he said “ah!” in expression of his -acknowledgment of an answer given to him by a person to whom he addressed -a question in a crowd. This may explain an anecdote in Moore’s Diary, -which he could not himself understand. A lady was coming in to dinner, -and, on her passing through the ante-room, where Talleyrand was standing, -he looked up and exclaimed insignificantly “ah!” In the course of the -dinner, the lady, having asked him across the table why he had uttered -the exclamation of “oh”! on her entrance, Talleyrand, with a grave -self-vindicatory look, answered; _Madame, je n’ai pas dit_ oh! _j’ai dit_ -ah, (_Memoirs VII., p. 5_). - -One of the standing jokes against the capuchins in Italy is about an -“alphabet” which they are supposed to learn during the noviciate, and -which consists exclusively of the interjection _O!_—which single sound, -by the varieties of look, gesture, air, and expression which accompany -it, is made to embody almost every conceivable meaning. - -Much light is thrown on more than one obscure passage in the Latin -classics by the gesticulations which still prevail in modern Italy, -especially in Naples. See the Canon De Jorio’s extremely curious and -learned book, “Mimica degli Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napolitano.” - -[531] Supra, p. 379. - -[532] The pun is less observable in writing than in speaking; the words -_weiss-haar_ and _weiser_ resemble each other more closely in sound, than -in appearance. It might be rendered: - -“Would to God, that, as I have become _whiter_, so I had also grown -_wiser_!” - -[533] This is a mistake. The work published at Philadelphia is not -a general treatise on the Indian Languages, but a Grammar of the -Lenni-Lennape Language nor is it an original work of Du Ponceau: but a -translation by him, with notes, from the German MS. of David Zeisberger. -It is in 4to. and was published at Philadelphia in 1827. Du Ponceau’s own -work on the Indian languages, was published in Paris, 8vo. 1838. - -[534] Christmas holidays in Rome, by the Rev. Ingraham Kip. - -[535] Gaume, Les Trois Rome, II. 413-4. - -[536] Letter of November 9, 1855. - -[537] Letter of July 14, 1856. - -[538] Remskiya Pisma—(by M. Mouravieff.) vol. I., p. 144. - -[539] See the _Allgemeine Zeitung_, for 1846. No. 4, p. 27. See also the -Kirchen-Lexicon. B. IV., p. 729. This interview forms the subject of one -of the most brilliant sketches in Cardinal Wiseman’s “Recollections of -the Last Four Popes,” pp. 409, and foll. - -[540] Manavit, p. 113. - -[541] Translated by Mr. Watts. - - “The fire that burns within that breast of thine, - Mother of God! O kindle it in mine.” - - _Trans. of Philological Society, 1854, p. 148._ - -[542] See an article in “Household Words,” May 13, 1854 (No. 216). See -also Rohrbacher’s Histoire de l’Eglise, T. XXVIII. pp. 431-42. - -[543] Manavit, p. 95. - -[544] Quoted by Manavit, p. 98. - -[545] Another impromptu epigram composed by the Cardinal, while the -memorable procession of the 8th of September following, was returning -from the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, amid the universal jubilation -of Rome, and of representatives of all the Papal provinces, has been -communicated to me. - - Te Patre, Teque Pio, junguntur Principe corda:— - Ecce Tibi unum cor, Felsina, Roma, sumus! - -[546] Civiltà Cattolica VII, p. 877. This brilliant account of the -Cardinal is given in the “Appendix” of Father Bresciani’s _Ebreo di -Verona_, and is full of most curious and interesting details. - -[547] Civiltà Cattolica, VII. p. 577. - -[548] His _zucchetto_, the red skull-cap worn by Cardinals, is preserved -in the collection at Abbotsford. - -[549] Civiltà Cattolica, VII. 596. - -[550] _Civiltà Cattolica_, VII., p. 578. - -[551] I do not know what language is here meant. Perhaps it is a mistake -for _Bavara_—the Bavarian dialect of German: or possibly it may mean the -Dutch of the _Boors_ at the Cape of Good Hope. - -[552] Possibly _Berberica_—the Barbary dialect of Arabic. - -[553] This is probably meant for _Concanico_—an Indian language which -often appeared in the programme of the Propaganda Academy, while -Mezzofanti was in Rome. It is the dialect of Kunka, in the province of -Orissa. - -[554] This is certainly meant for _Tepehuana_, one of the Central -American point of languages. - -[555] Probably by these names are meant the two _spoken_ dialects of -the orthodox Christians of modern Egypt. The Coptic (No. 23.) is the -_learned_ language of the Liturgy. - -[556] This item, as well as Nos. 47 and 53, may be ascribed to the -writer’s desire to swell the total of his uncle’s languages—I need hardly -say that they have no practical bearing on the question. - -[557] I am unable to conjecture the meaning of this name. - -[558] This is either a repetition of No. 56., or it designates the whole -class of languages called Iberian, and not an individual language. - -[559] Perhaps Misteco—the Mistek; one of the Mexican group of languages. -Many interesting particulars regarding them will be found in Squier’s -Nicaragua. - -[560] This probably means the old Celtic of Brittany. No. 50 is the -modern patois of the province. - -[561] If this be meant for Gælic, as seems likely, No. 73 can only be the -Lowland Scotch. - -[562] I need hardly observe on the vagueness of this name. Mezzofanti -learned from more than one missionary something of the languages of -Oceanica; but how much I have no means of determining. - -[563] For Pampanga, one of the languages of the Philippine Islands—an -offshoot of the Malay family. - -[564] The old language of Peru. It is fast recovering the ground from -which it had been driven by the Spanish. See Markham’s “Cuzco and Lima.” - -[565] I cannot guess what is meant by this name. - -[566] A language of the New Hebrides. See Adelung, I. p. 626. - -[567] There can be no doubt that much light on this point may be derived -from a thorough examination of these books and manuscripts; and I trust -that some of the Cardinal’s friends at Rome, (where his library is now -deposited, having been purchased for the Vatican,) will undertake the -task. I have endeavoured in some degree to supply the want by a careful -examination of the catalogue published in Rome in 1851, and often cited -in this volume. But it is so full of the grossest and most ludicrous -inaccuracies, so utterly unscientific, and so constantly confounds one -language with another, that it can only be used with the utmost caution, -and at best affords but little assistance for the purposes of the Memoir. - -[568] I should observe that I do not think it necessary to adopt the -nomenclature of languages recently introduced. I will for the most part -follow that of Adelung. - -[569] I shall refer for the several languages, to the pages which contain -the notices of the Cardinal’s proficiency in each. There are two or three -cases in which the proof may not appear quite decisive: but I have much -understated, even in these, the common opinion of his friends. - -[570] In this and the few other instances in which I have referred to -Cavaliere Minarelli’s list of the Cardinal’s languages, it is amply -supported by the printed catalogue of his library, which contains several -works in each language, evidently provided with a view to the study of it. - -[571] I once travelled through the entire length of France with a friend, -who was an excellent book-scholar in the French language, but who, from -the feeling which I describe, never could prevail on himself to attempt -to speak French in my presence. During a journey of several days, I only -heard him utter one solitary _oui_; and even this was at a time when he -was not aware that I was within hearing. - -[572] p. 290. - -[573] p. 78. - -[574] P. 391. - -[575] P. 291 - -[576] There is little originality in this piece, the words and forms -being closely scriptural. It is without points, but he occasionally, -also, employed them in writing Hebrew. - -[577] Eumetes was the name under which, by ancient usage of the _Arcadi_, -Gregory XVI., before his elevation, had been enrolled in their Academy. - -[578] Domenichino’s Communion of St. Jerome. - -[579] Communion of St. Sebastian, also by Domenichino. - -[580] Guercino’s St. Petronilla. - -[581] Algardi’s bas-relief group of Attila and St. Leo. - -[582] As I have no knowledge of this or the Grisons language, I fear the -orthography will be found inaccurate. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CARDINAL -MEZZOFANTI *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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W. Russell, D.D. - </title> - - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> - - <style> - -a { - text-decoration: none; -} - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -h1,h2,h3,h4 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -h2.nobreak { - page-break-before: avoid; -} - -hr.chap { - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - clear: both; - width: 65%; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; -} - -img.w100 { - width: 100%; -} - -div.chapter { - page-break-before: always; -} - -ul { - list-style-type: none; -} - -li { - margin-top: .5em; - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -p { - margin-top: 0.5em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -table { - margin: 1em auto 1em auto; - max-width: 40em; - border-collapse: collapse; -} - -td { - padding: 0.25em; - vertical-align: top; - text-indent: 1em; - text-align: justify; -} - -.in3 { - padding-left: 3em; -} - -.tdc { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - padding-top: 0.75em; -} - -.tdr { - text-align: right; - text-indent: 0; -} - -.tdpg { - vertical-align: bottom; - text-indent: 0; - text-align: right; - white-space: nowrap; -} - -.blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 10%; -} - -.caption { - text-align: center; - margin-bottom: 1em; - font-size: 90%; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.center { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.footnotes { - margin-top: 1em; - border: dashed 1px; -} - -.footnote { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - font-size: 0.9em; -} - -.footnote .label { - position: absolute; - right: 84%; - text-align: right; -} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: none; -} - -.hanging { - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.irish { - font-family: 'Irish Penny', Book Antiqua, serif; - font-weight: bold; -} - -.larger { - font-size: 150%; -} - -.noindent { - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 4%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; -} - -.poetry-container { - text-align: center; -} - -.poetry { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; -} - -.poetry .stanza { - margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; -} - -.poetry .verse { - padding-left: 3em; -} - -.poetry .indent0 { - text-indent: -3em; -} - -.poetry .indent2 { - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.poetry .indent4 { - text-indent: -1em; -} - -.poetry .indent6 { - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.poetry .indent12 { - text-indent: 3em; -} - -.poetry .indent14 { - text-indent: 4em; -} - -.right { - text-align: right; -} - -.rtl p { - direction: rtl; - padding-right: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.rtl p.center { - text-align: center; - padding-right: 0; - text-indent: 0; -} - -.smaller { - font-size: 80%; -} - -.smcap { - font-variant: small-caps; - font-style: normal; -} - -.spacer { - margin-left: 12em; -} - -.tb { - margin-top: 2em; -} - -.titlepage { - text-align: center; - margin-top: 3em; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.transnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - text-align: center; - font-size: smaller; - padding: 0.5em; -} - -.x-ebookmaker img { - max-width: 100%; - width: auto; - height: auto; -} - -.x-ebookmaker .poetry { - display: block; - margin-left: 1.5em; -} - -.x-ebookmaker .blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 5%; -} - -/* Illustration classes */ -.illowp100 {width: 100%;} -.illowp53 {width: 53%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp53 {width: 100%;} -.illowp83 {width: 83%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp83 {width: 100%;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The life of Cardinal Mezzofanti, by Charles William Russell</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The life of Cardinal Mezzofanti</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>With an introductory memoir of eminent linguists, ancient and modern</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles William Russell</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 4, 2022 [eBook #69473]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI ***</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p> - -<h1><span class="smaller">THE LIFE<br> -<span class="smaller">OF</span></span><br> -CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI.</h1> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="frontispiece" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt=""> - <p class="caption">J. Card. Mezzofanti</p> - <p class="caption smaller">Perugini, del. <span class="spacer">H. Adlard, sc.</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage larger">THE LIFE<br> -<span class="smaller">OF</span><br> -<span class="larger">CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI;</span><br> -<span class="smaller">WITH</span><br> -AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR<br> -<span class="smaller">OF</span><br> -EMINENT LINGUISTS, ANCIENT AND MODERN.</p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br> -C. W. RUSSELL, D.D.<br> -<span class="smaller">PRESIDENT OF ST. PATRICK’S COLLEGE, MAYNOOTH.</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage">LONDON:<br> -LONGMAN, BROWN, AND CO.<br> -<span class="smaller">PATERNOSTER-ROW.</span><br> -1858.</p> - -<p class="center smaller">[<i>The Right of Translation is reserved.</i>]</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 9.375em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/line1.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -</div> - -<p>The following Memoir had its origin in an article -on Cardinal Mezzofanti, contributed to the Edinburgh -Review in the year 1855. The subject appeared -at that time to excite considerable interest. -The article was translated into French, and, in an -abridged form, into Italian; and I received through -the editor, from persons entirely unknown to me, -more than one suggestion that I should complete -the biography, accompanied by offers of additional -information for the purpose.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, the notices of the Cardinal on -which that article was founded, and which at that -time comprised all the existing materials for a biography, -appeared to me, with all their interest, to -want the precision and the completeness which are -essential to a just estimate of his attainments. I -felt that to judge satisfactorily his acquaintance -with a range of languages so vast as that which fame -ascribed to him, neither sweeping statements founded -on popular reports, however confident, nor general -assertions from individuals, however distinguished -and trustworthy, could safely be regarded as sufficient. -The proof of his familiarity with any particular -language, in order to be satisfactory, ought -to be specific, and ought to rest on the testimony<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span> -either of a native, or at least of one whose skill in -the language was beyond suspicion.</p> - -<p>At the same time the interest with which the -subject seemed to be generally regarded, led me to -hope that, by collecting, while they were yet recent, -the reminiscences of persons of various countries -and tongues, who had known and spoken with the -Cardinal, it might be possible to lay the foundation -of a much more exact judgment regarding him -than had hitherto been attainable.</p> - -<p>A short inquiry satisfied me that, although scattered -over every part of the globe, there were still -to be found living representatives of most of the -languages ascribed to the Cardinal, who would be -able, from their own personal knowledge, to declare -whether, and in what degree, he was acquainted -with each; and I resolved to try whether it might -not be possible to collect their opinions.</p> - -<p>The experiment has involved an extensive and -tedious correspondence; many of the persons whom -I have had to consult being ex-pupils of the Propaganda, -residing in very distant countries; more -than one beyond the range of regular postal communication, -and only accessible by a chance message -transmitted through a consul, or through the -friendly offices of a brother missionary.</p> - -<p>For the spirit in which my inquiries have been -met, I am deeply grateful. I have recorded in the -course of the narrative the names of many to whom -I am indebted for valuable assistance and information. -Other valued friends whom I have not named, -will kindly accept this general acknowledgment.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p> - -<p>There is one, however, to whom I owe a most -special and grateful expression of thanks—his Eminence -the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. -From him, at the very outset of my task, I received -a mass of anecdotes, recollections, and suggestions, -which, besides their great intrinsic interest, most -materially assisted me in my further inquiries; and -the grace of the contribution was enhanced by the -fact, that it was generously withdrawn from that -delightful store of Personal Recollections which his -Eminence has since given to the public; and in which -his brilliant pen would have made it one of the most -attractive episodes.</p> - -<p>Several of the autographs, also, which appear in -the sheet of fac-similes, I owe to his Eminence. -Others I have received from friends who are named -in the Memoir.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[viii]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 7.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/line2.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -</div> - -<table> - <tr> - <td class="noindent">PREFACE,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#PREFACE">pp. v-vii.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR.</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="in3"><span class="smcap">Ancient period</span>:—</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>History of Linguists little known—Legendary Linguists—The - Jews—The Asiatics—The Greeks—Mithridates—Cleopatra—The - Romans—Prevalence of Greek under the Empire—The Early Christians—Decline - of the Study—Separation of the two Empires—The - Crusaders—Frederic II—The Moorish Schools in Spain—Council - of Vienne—Roderigo Ximenes—Venetian travellers—Fall of Constantinople—Greeks - in Italy—Complutensian Polyglot,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_5">pp. 5-18.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="in3"><span class="smcap">Modern period</span>:—</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>I. <i>Linguists of the East.</i> Dragomans—Genus Bey—Jonadab - Alhanar—Interpreters in the Levant—Ciceroni at Mecca—Syrian - Linguists—The Assemani—Greeks—Armenians—The Mechitarists,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_18">pp. 18-24.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>II. <i>Italian Linguists.</i> Pico della Mirandola—Teseo Ambrosio—Pigafetta—Linguistic - Missionary Colleges—The Propaganda—Schools - of the Religious Orders—Giggei—Galani—Ubicini—Maracci—Podestà—Piromalli—Giorgi—De - Magistris—Finetti—Valperga - de Galuso—The De Rossis,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_25">pp. 25-34.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>III. <i>Spanish and Portuguese Linguists.</i> Fernando di Cordova—Covilham—Libertas - Cominetus—Arias Montanus—Del Rio—Lope - de Vega—Missionaries—Antonio Fernandez—Carabantes—Pedro - Paez—Hervas-y-Pandura,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_34">pp. 34-41.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IV. <i>French Linguists.</i> Postel—Polyglot-Pater-Nosters—Scaliger—Le - Cluse—Peiresc—Chasteuil—Duret—Bochart—Picquet—Le - Jay—De la Croze—Renaudot—Fourmont—Deshauterayes—De - Guignes—Diplomatic affairs in the Levant—De Paradis, Langlés—Abel - Remusat—Modern School, Julien, Bournouf, Renan, Fresnel, - the d’Abbadies,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_41">pp. 41-58.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>V. <i>German, Dutch, Flemish, and Hungarian Linguists.</i> Müller—(Regiomontanus)—Bibliander—Gesner—Christmann—Drusius—Schultens—Maes—Haecx—Gramaye—Erpen—The - Goliuses—Hottinger—Kircher—Ludolf—Rothenacker—Andrew<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x"></a>[x]</span> - Müller—Witzen—Wilkins—Leibnitz—Gerard Müller—Schlötzer—Buttner—Michaelis—Catholic - Missionaries—Richter, Fritz, Widmann, Grebmer, - Dobritzhofer, Werdin—Berchtold, Adelung, Vater, Pallas, Klaproth, - Niebuhr, Humboldt and his School—Castrén, Rask, Bunsen, - Biblical Linguists—Hungarian Linguists—Csoma de Körös,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_59">pp. 59-81.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VI. <i>British and Irish Linguists.</i> Crichton—Andrews—Gregory—Castell, - Walton, Pocock, Ockley, Sale, Clarke, Wilkins, Toland, - “Orator” Henley, Carteret, Jones, Marsden, Colebrooke, Craufurd, - Lumsden, Leyden, Vans Kennedy, Adam Clarke, Roberts Jones, - Young, Pritchard, Cardinal Wiseman, Browning, Lee, Burritt,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_81">pp. 81-99.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VII. <i>Slavonian Linguists.</i> <i>Russians</i>—Scantiness of Materials—Early - Period—Jaroslav, Boris—The Romanoffs—Beründa Pameva, - Peter the Great, Catherine I., Mentschikoff, Timkoffsky, Bitchourin, - Igumnoff, Giganoff, Tchubinoff, Goulianoff, Senkowsky, Gretsch, - Kazem-Beg—<i>Poles</i>—Meninski, Groddek, Bobrowski, Albertrandy, - Rzewuski, Italinski—<i>Bohemians</i>—Komnensky, Dobrowsky, Hanka,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_99">pp. 99-110.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Miraculous gift of tongues—Royal Linguists—Lady-Linguists—Infant - Phenomena—Uneducated Linguists,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_110">pp. 110-121.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">LIFE OF CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI.</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER I. (1774-98.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Birth and family history—Legendary tales—Early education—First - masters—School friends—Ecclesiastical studies—Illness and interruption - of studies—Study of languages—Anecdote—Ordination—Appointment - as Professor of Arabic—Deprivation of professorship,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">pp. 125-147.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER II. (1798-1802.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Straitened circumstances—Private tuition—The Marescalchi - family—The military hospitals—Manner of study—The Magyar, - Czechish, Polish, Russian, and Flemish languages—Foreigners—The - Confessional—Intense application—Examples of literary labour,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">pp. 148-161.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER III. (1803-1806.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Appointed as Assistant Librarian of the <i>Istituto di Bologna</i>—<i>Catalogue - Raisonné</i>—Professorship of Oriental Languages—Paper - on Egyptian obelisks—De Rossi—Correspondence with him—Polyglot - translations—Caronni’s account of him—Visit to Parma, Pezzana,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi"></a>[xi]</span> - Bodoni—Persian—Illness—Invitation to settle at Paris—Domestic - relations—Correspondence—Translations,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">pp. 162-190.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER IV. (1807-14.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Labour of compiling Catalogue—His skill as linguist tested by - the Russian Embassy—Deprivation of Professorship—Death of his - mother—Visit to Modena and Parma—Literary friends—Giordani’s - account—Greek scholarship—Bucheron’s trial of his Latinity—Deputy - Librarianship of University—Visitors—Lord Guildford—Learned - societies—Academy of Institute—Paper on Mexican symbolic - Paintings,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">pp. 191-204.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER V. (1814-17.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Restoration of the Papal Government—Pius VII. at Bologna—Invites - Mezzofanti to Rome—Re-appointment as Professor of Oriental - languages—Death of his father—Notices of Mezzofanti by Tourists—Kephalides—Appointed - head librarian—Pupils—Angelelli—Papers - read at Academy,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">pp. 205-18.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER VI. (1817-20.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Tourists’ Notices of Mezzofanti—Society in Bologna—Mr. Harford—Stewart - Rose—Byron—The Opuscoli Letterarj di Bologna—Panegyric - of F. Aponte—Emperor Francis I. at Bologna—Clotilda - Tambroni—Lady Morgan’s account of Mezzofanti—Inaccuracies—The - Bologna dialect—M. Molbech,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">pp. 219-40.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER VII. (1820-28.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Illness—Visit to Mantua, Modena, Pisa, and Leghorn—Solar - Eclipse—Baron Von Zach—Bohemian—Admiral Smyth—The Gipsy - language—Blume—Armenian—Georgian—Flemish—Pupils—Cavedoni, - Veggetti, Rosellini—Foreigners—Daily duties—Correspondence—Death - of Pius VII.—Appointment as member of Collegio dei Consultori—Jacobs’ - account of him—Personal appearance—Cardinal - Cappellari—Translation of Oriental Liturgy—Mezzofanti’s disinterestedness—Birmese,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">pp. 241-70.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER VIII. (1828-30.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Visit of Crown Prince of Prussia—Trial of skill in languages—Crown - Prince of Sweden—M. Braunerhjelm—Countess of Blessington—Irish - Students—Lady Bellew—Dr. Tholuck—Persian - couplet—Swedish—Cornish Dialect—Frisian—Abate Fabiani—Letters—Academy - of the Filopieri,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">pp. 271-86.</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xii"></a>[xii]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER IX. (1831.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Political parties at Bologna—M. Libri’s account of Mezzofanti—Hindoo - Algebra—Indian literature and history—Indian languages—Manner - of study—Revolution of Bologna—Delegates to Rome—Mezzofanti - at Rome—Reception by Gregory XVI.—Visit to the - Propaganda—Dr. Cullen—Polyglot conversation—Renewed Invitation - to settle at Rome—Consents—Calumnies of revolutionary party—Dr. - Wordsworth—Mr. Milnes—Removal to Rome,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">pp. 287-300.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER X. (1831-33.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Rome a centre of many languages—Mezzofanti’s pretensions - fully tested—Appointments at Rome—Visit to the Chinese College - at Naples—History of the College—Study of Chinese—Its difficulties—Illness—Return - to Rome—Polyglot society of Rome—The - Propaganda—Amusing trials of skill—Gregory XVI.—Library of - Propaganda rich in rare books on languages—Appointed First Keeper - of the Vatican Library—Letters,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">pp. 301-17.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XI. (1834.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>The Welsh language—Dr. Forster—Dr. Baines—Dr. Edwards—Mr. - Rhys Powell—Flemish—Mgr. Malou—Mgr. Wilde—Canon Aerts—Pere - van Calven—Pere Legrelle—Dutch—M. Leon—Dr. Wap—Mezzofanti’s - extempore Dutch verses—Bohemian—The poet Frankl—Conversations - on German and Magyar Poetry—Maltese—Padre Schembri—Canonico - Falzou—Portuguese—Count de Lavradio,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">pp. 318-37.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XII. (1834-36.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>The Vatican Library—Mezzofanti’s colleagues—College of St. - Peter’s—Mezzofanti made Rector—His literary friends in Rome—Angelo - Mai—Accademia della Cattolica Religione—He reads papers - in this Academy—Gregory XVI.’s kindness—Cardinal Giustiniani—Albani—Pacca—Zurla—Polyglot - party at Cardinal Zurla’s - in his honour—Opinions regarding him—Number of his languages—Mr. - Mazzinghi—Dr. Cox—Dr. Wiseman—Herr Fleck—Greek - Epigram—Herr Fleck’s criticisms—Mezzofanti’s Latinity—His English—Dr. - Baines—Cardinal Wiseman—Mr. Monckton Milnes—Mezzofanti’s - style formed on books—Lady Morgan’s opinion of his - English—Swedish Literature—Professor Carlson—Count Oxenstjerna—Armenian - Literature—Mgr. Hurmuz—Padre Angiarakian - Arabic of Syria—Greek Literature—Mgr. Missir—Romaic—Abate - Matranga—Polish Literature—Sicilian—The poet Meli,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">pp. 338-54.</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii"></a>[xiii]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XIII. (1836-38.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Californian students in Propaganda—Californian language—Mezzofanti’s - success in it—Nigger Dutch of Curaçoa—American Indians - in Propaganda—Augustine Hamelin—“The Blackbird”—Mezzofanti’s - knowledge of Indian languages—Dr. Kip—Algonquin—Chippewa - Delaware—Father Thavenet—His studies in the Propaganda—Arabic—Albanese—Mr. - Fernando’s notice of him—Cingalese—East - Indian languages—Hindostani—Mahratta—Guzarattee—Dr. - M’Auliffe—Count Lackersteen—M. Eyoob—Chinese, difficulty of—Chinese - students—Testimony of Abate Umpierres—Cardinal Wiseman—West - African languages—Father Brunner—Angolese—Oriental - languages—Paul Alkushi—“Shalom”—Letter,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">pp. 355-72.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XIV. (1838-41.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Created Cardinal—The Cardinalate—Its history, duties, emoluments, - congregations, offices—Mezzofanti’s poverty—Kindness of - Gregory XVI.—Congratulations of his Bolognese friends—The - Filopieri—Polyglot congratulations of the Propaganda—Friends - among the Cardinals—His life as Cardinal—Still continues to acquire - new languages—Abyssinian—M. d’Abbadie—His visit to - Mezzofanti—Basque—Amarinna—Arabic—Ilmorma—Mezzofanti’s - failure—Studies Amarinna—Abyssinian Embassy to Rome—Their - account of the Cardinal—The Basque language—M. d’Abbadie—Prince - L.L. Bonaparte—M. Dassance—Strictures on Mezzofanti—Mrs. - Paget—Baron Glucky de Stenitzer—Guido Görres—Modesty - of Mezzofanti—Mr. Kip—Görres—Cardinal Wiseman—Mezzofanti - among the pupils of the Propaganda,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">pp. 373-97.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XV. (1841-43.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Author’s recollections of Mezzofanti in 1841—His personal appearance - and manner; his attractive simplicity—Languages in which the - author heard him speak—His English conversation—Various opinions - regarding it—Impressions of the author—Anecdotes—Cardinal - Wiseman—Rev. John Smyth—Father Kelleher—His knowledge of - English literature—Mr. Harford—Dr. Cox—Cardinal Wiseman—Mr. - Grattan—Mr. Badeley—Hudibras—Author’s own conversation - with the Cardinal—The Tractarian movement—Mr. Grattan—Baron - Bunsen—Author’s second visit to Rome—The Polyglot Academy - of the Propaganda—Playful trial of Mezzofanti’s powers by - the students—His wonderful versatility of language—Analogous - examples of this faculty—Description of it by visitors—His own illustration—The - Irish language—Mezzofanti’s admission regarding - it—The Etruria Celtica—The Eugubian Tables—Amusing experiment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv"></a>[xiv]</span> - suggested by Mezzofanti—Dr. Murphy—The Gælic language—Mezzofanti’s - extempore Metrical compositions—Specimens—Rapidity - with which he wrote them—Power of accommodating his pronunciation - of Latin to that of the various countries—National interjectional - sounds—Playfulness—Puns,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">pp. 398-431.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XVI. (1843-49.)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Death of his nephew Mgr. Minarelli—His sister Teresa—Letter—Visitors—Rev. - Ingraham Kip—English conversation—English literature—American - literature—The American Indian languages—Scottish - dialect—Burns and Walter Scott—Rev. John Gray—Mezzofanti - as a philologer—Baron Bunsen—The Abbé Gaume—French - patois—Spanish—Father Burrueco—Mexican—Peruvian—New Zealand - language—Armenian and Turkish—Father Trenz—Russian—M. - Mouravieff—The Emperor Nicholas—Polish—Klementyna z - Tanskich Hoffmanowa—Makrena, Abbess of Minsk—Her history—Her - account of Mezzofanti—His occupations—House of Catechumens—First - communion—<i>Fervorini</i>—The confessional—Death of - Gregory XVI.—Election of Pius IX.—Mezzofanti’s epigrams on the - occasion—His relations with the new Pope—Father Bresciani’s account - of him—The revolution of 1848—Its effect on Cardinal Mezzofanti—His - illness—Death and funeral,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">pp. 432-56.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CHAPTER XVII. (<span class="smcap">Recapitulation.</span>)</td> - <td class="tdpg"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Plan pursued in preparing this Biography—Points of inquiry—Number - of languages known to Mezzofanti—What is meant by - knowledge of a language—Popular notion of it—Mezzofanti’s number - of languages progressive—Dr. Minarelli’s list of languages known - by him—Classification of languages according to the degrees of his - knowledge—Languages spoken by him with great perfection—Languages - spoken less perfectly—Languages in which he could initiate - a conversation—Languages known from books—Dialects—Southern - and central American languages—Total number known to him in - various degrees—His speaking of languages not literally faultless, - but perfect to a degree rare in foreigners—Comparison with other - linguists—His plan of studying languages—Various systems of study—Mezzofanti’s - method involved much labour—Habit of thinking in - foreign languages—His success a special gift of nature—In what this - consisted—Quickness of perception—Analysis—Memory—Peculiarity - of his memory—His enthusiasm and simplicity—Mezzofanti as - a philologer, as a critic, a historian, a man of science—Piety and - charity, liberal and tolerant spirit—Social virtues,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">pp. 457-493.</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="noindent">APPENDIX,</td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#APPENDIX">pp. 495-502.</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CORRIGENDA">CORRIGENDA.</h2> - -</div> - -<table> - <tr> - <td>Page</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a>,</td> - <td>Line</td> - <td class="noindent">5, for “yards” read “feet.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_52">52</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">last, after “(1704),” supply “who.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">21, for “Bourmouf,” read “Bournouf.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">8, for “John and,” read “and John.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_76">76</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">2nd last, for “Boehthingk,” read “Boehtlingk.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117">117</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">4th last, (and three other places,) for “marvelous,” read “marvellous.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">2nd last, for “months,” read “years.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">2nd last, for “Hall,” read “Hill.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_281">281</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">22, for “Grüner,” read “Grüder.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_283">283</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">17, for “Rabinical,” read “Rabbinical.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_312">312</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">10, for “unable,” read “able.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_426">426</a>,</td> - <td></td> - <td class="noindent">4th last, for “seneeta,” read “senecta;” also interchange ; and !</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class="transnote">Transcriber’s Note: The corrections have been made.</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp83" id="facsimiles" style="max-width: 93.75em;"> - <p class="caption"><i>Fac-similes in Sixteen Languages.</i></p> - <img class="w100" src="images/facsimiles.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="MEMOIRS">MEMOIRS<br> -<span class="smaller">OF</span><br> -EMINENT LINGUISTS.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 7.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/line3.jpg" alt=""> -</div> - -</div> - -<p>In the Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti I have attempted to -ascertain, by direct evidence, the exact number of languages -with which that great linguist was acquainted, and the degree -of his familiarity with each.</p> - -<p>Eminence in any pursuit, however, is necessarily relative. -We are easily deceived about a man’s stature until we have -seen him by the side of other men; nor shall we be able to -form a just notion of the linguistic accomplishments of Cardinal -Mezzofanti, or at least to bring them before our minds as a -practical reality, until we shall have first considered what had -been effected before him by other men who attained to distinction -in the same department.</p> - -<p>I have thought it desirable, therefore, to prefix to his Life -a summary history of the most eminent linguists of ancient -and modern times. There is no branch of scholarship which -has left fewer traces in literature, or has received a more scanty -measure of justice from history. Viewed in the light of a -curious but unpractical pursuit, skill in languages is admired -for a time, perhaps indeed enjoys an exaggerated popularity; -but it passes away like a nine days’ wonder, and seldom finds -an exact or permanent record. Hence, while the literature of -every country abounds with memoirs of distinguished poets, -philosophers, and historians, few, even among professed -antiquarians, have directed their attention to the history of -eminent linguists, whether in ancient or in modern times. -In all the ordinary repositories of curious learning—Pliny, -Aulus Gellius, and Athenæus, among the ancients; Bayle, -Gibbon, Feyjoo, Disraeli, and Vulpius, among the moderns—this -interesting chapter is entirely overlooked; nor does it -appear to have engaged the attention even of linguists or -philologers themselves.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span></p> - -<p>The following Memoir, therefore, must claim the indulgence -due to a first essay in a new and difficult subject. No one -can be more sensible than the writer of its many imperfections;—of -the probable omission of names which should have been -recorded;—of the undue prominence of others with inferior -pretensions; and perhaps of still more serious inaccuracies -of a different kind. It is only offered in the absence of -something better and more complete; and with the hope of -directing to what is certainly a curious and interesting subject, -the attention of others who enjoy more leisure and opportunity -for its investigation.</p> - -<p class="tb">The diversity of languages which prevails among the various -branches of the human family, has proved, almost equally with -their local dispersion, a barrier to that free intercommunion -which is one of the main instruments of civilization. “The -confusion of tongues, the first great judgment of God upon -the ambition of man,” says Bacon, in the Introductory Book -of his “Advancement of Learning,” “hath chiefly imbarred -the open trade and intercourse of learning and knowledge.”<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> -Perhaps it would be more correct to say that these two great -impediments to intercourse have mutually assisted each other. -The divergency of languages seems to keep pace with the dispersion -of the population. Adelung lays it down as the result -of the most careful philological investigations, that where the -difficulties of intercourse are such as existed among the ancients -and as still prevail among the less civilized populations, no -language can maintain itself unchanged over a space of more -than one hundred and fifty thousand square miles.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>It might naturally be expected, therefore, that one of the -earliest efforts of the human intellect would have been directed -towards the removal of this barrier, and that one of the first -sciences to invite the attention of men would have been the -knowledge of languages. Few sciences, nevertheless, were -more neglected by the ancients.</p> - -<p>It is true that the early literatures of many of the ancient -nations contain legends on this head which might almost throw -into the shade the greatest marvels related of Mezzofanti. In -one of the Chinese stories regarding the youth of Buddha,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> -translated by Klaproth, it is related that, when he was ten -years old, he asked his preceptor, Babourenou, to teach him -all the languages of the earth, seeing that he was to be an -apostle to all men; and that when Babourenou confessed his -ignorance of all except the Indian dialects, the child himself -taught his master “fifty foreign tongues with their respective -characters.”<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> A still more marvellous tale is told by one of -the Rabbinical historians, Rabbi Eliezer, who relates that -Mordechai, (one of the great heroes of Talmudic legend), was -acquainted with seventy languages; and that it was by means -of this gift he understood the conversation of the two eunuchs -who were plotting in a foreign tongue the death of the king.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> -Nor is the Koran without its corresponding prodigy. When -the Prophet was carried up to Heaven, before the throne -of the Most High, “God promised that he should have the -knowledge of all languages.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p>But when we turn to the genuine records of antiquity, we -find no ground for the belief that such legends as these -have even that ordinary substructure of truth which commonly -underlies the fables of mythology. Neither the Sacred -Narratives, nor those of the early profane authors, contain -a single example of remarkable proficiency in languages.</p> - -<p>It is true that in the later days of the Jewish people, -interpreters were appointed in the synagogues to explain -the lessons read from the Hebrew Scriptures for the benefit -of their foreign brethren; that in all the courts of the Eastern -monarchs interpreters were found, through whom they communicated -with foreign envoys, or with the motley tribes -of their own empire; and that professional interpreters -were at the service of foreigners in the great centres of commerce -or travel,<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> who, it may be presumed, were masters of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> -several languages. The philosophers, too, who traversed -remote countries in pursuit of wisdom, can hardly be supposed -to have returned without some acquaintance with the languages -of the nations among whom they had voyaged. Solon -and Pythagoras are known to have visited Egypt and the -East; the latter also sojourned for a considerable time in -Italy and the islands; the wanderings of Plato are said -to have been even more extensive. Nay, in some instances these -pilgrims of knowledge extended their researches beyond the -limits of their own ethnographical region. Thus, on the one -hand, the Scythian sages, Anacharsis and Zamolxis, themselves -most probably of the Mongol or Tartar tongue, sojourned for -a long time in countries where the Indo-European family of -languages alone prevailed; on the other, the merchants of -Tyre were in familiar and habitual intercourse with the -Italo-Pelasgic race; and the Phœnician explorers, in their -well-known circumnavigation of Africa described by Herodotus, -must have come in contact with still more numerous -varieties both of race and of tongue. Nevertheless it may -fairly be doubted whether these or similar opportunities among -the ancients, resulted in any very remarkable attainments in -the department of languages. The absence of all record furnishes -a strong presumption to the contrary; and there is one -example, that of Herodotus, which would almost be in itself -conclusive. This acute and industrious explorer devoted many -years to foreign travel. He visited every city of note in -Greece and Asia Minor, and every site of the great battles -between the Greeks and Barbarians. He explored the -whole line of the route of Xerxes in his disastrous expedition. -He visited in succession all the chief islands of the Egean, -as well as those of the western coast of Greece. His landward -wanderings extended far into the interior. He -reached Babylon, Ecbatana, and Susa, and spent some time -among the Scythian tribes on the shores of the Black Sea. -He resided long in Egypt, from which he passed southwards -as far as Elephantine, eastwards into Arabia, and westwards -through Lybia, at least as far as Cyrene. And yet Dahlmann -is of opinion that, with all his industry, and all the spirit of -inquiry which was his great characteristic, Herodotus never -became acquainted even with the language of Egypt, but -contented himself with the service of an interpreter.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span></p> - -<p>In like manner, it would be difficult to shew, either from -the Cyropædia, or the Expedition of Cyrus, that Xenophon, -during his foreign travel, became master of Persian or any -kindred Eastern tongue. Nor am I aware that there has ever -been discovered in the writings of Plato any evidence of -familiarity with the language of those Eastern philosophers -from whose science he is believed to have drawn so largely.</p> - -<p>It is strange that the two notable exceptions to this -barrenness of eminent linguists which characterizes the classic -times, Mithridates and Cleopatra, should both have been of -royal rank. The former, the celebrated king of Pontus, -long one of the most formidable enemies of the Roman name, -is alleged to have spoken fluently the languages of all the -subjects of his empire; an empire so vast, and comprising -so many different nationalities as to throw an air of improbability -over the story. According to Aulus Gellius,<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> he “was -thoroughly conversant” (<i>percalluit</i>) with the languages of -all the nations (<i>twenty-five in number</i>) over which his -rule extended.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The other writers who relate the circumstance—Valerius -Maximus,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Pliny,<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and Solinus—make -the number only twenty-two. Some commentators have -regarded the story as a gross exaggeration; and others have -sought to diminish its marvellousness by explaining it of -different dialects, rather than of distinct languages. But there -does not appear in the narrative of the original writers any -reason whether for the doubt or for the restriction. Pliny -declares that “it is quite certain;” and the matter-of-fact -tone in which they all relate it, makes it clear that they wished -to be understood literally. It was the king’s invariable practice, -they tell us, to communicate with all the subjects of his polyglot -empire directly and in person, and “never through an -interpreter;” and Gellius roundly affirms that he was able to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> -converse in each and every one of these tongues “with as -much correctness as if it were his native dialect.”</p> - -<p>The attainments of Cleopatra, although far short of what is -reported of Mithridates, are nevertheless described by Plutarch<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> -as very extraordinary. He says that she “spoke most languages, -and that there were but few of the foreign ambassadors to -whom she gave audience through an interpreter.” The -languages which he specifies are those of the Ethiopians, of -the Troglodytes (probably a dialect of Coptic), of the Hebrews, -of the Arabs, the Syrians, the Medes, and the Persians; but -he adds that this list does not comprise all the languages -which this extraordinary woman understood.</p> - -<p>Now the very prominence assigned to these examples, and -the absence of all allusion to any other which might be supposed -to approximate to them, may afford a presumption that they -are almost solitary. Valerius Maximus, in his well-known -chapter <i>De Studio et Industria</i>, cites the case of Mithridates -as a very remarkable example “of study and industry.” It is -highly probable therefore, that, if he knew any other eminent -linguists, he would have added their names. Yet the only -cases which he instances are those of Cato learning Greek in his -old age, of Themistocles acquiring Persian during his exile, -and of Publius mastering all the five dialects of Greece during -the time of his Prætorship. In like manner, Aulus Gellius has -no more notable linguist to produce, in contrast with Mithridates, -than the old poet Ennius, who used to boast that he had -three hearts,<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> because he could speak Greek, Latin, and his -rude native dialect, Oscan. And Pliny, with all his love of -parallels, is even more meagre:—he does not recite a single -name in comparison with that of Mithridates.</p> - -<p class="tb">The Romans, especially under the early Republic, appear -to have been singularly indifferent or unsuccessful in cultivating -languages; and the bad Greek of the Roman ambassadors to -Tarentum, for their ridicule of which the Tarentines paid so -dearly, is almost an average specimen of the accomplishments -of the earlier Romans as linguists. Nor can this circumstance -fail to appear strange, when it is remembered over how many -different races and tongues the wide domain of Rome extended. -The very multiplicity of languages submitted to her government<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> -would seem to have imposed upon her public men the necessity -of familiarizing themselves, even for the discharge of their -public office, with at least the principal ones among them. -But, on the contrary, for a long time they steadily pursued -the policy of imposing, as far as practicable, upon the conquered -nationalities the Latin language, at least in public and official -transactions.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> - -<p>And, so far as regards the Eastern and Northern languages, -this exclusion was successfully and permanently enforced at -Rome. The slave population of the city comprised almost -every variety of race within the limits of the Empire. The -very names of the slaves who are introduced in the plays of -Plautus and Terence—Syra, Phœnicium, Afer, Geta, Dorias, -&c. (which are but their respective gentile appellatives)—embrace -a very large circle of the languages of Asia, Africa, -and Northern Europe. And yet, with the exception of a -single scene in the Pænulus of Plautus, in which the well-known -Punic speech of Hanno the Carthaginian is introduced,<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> -there is nothing in either of these dramatists from which we -could infer that any of the manifold languages of the slave -population of Rome effected an entrance among their haughty -masters. They were all as completely ignored by the Romans, -as is the vernacular Celtic of the Irish agricultural servant in -the midland counties of England.</p> - -<p>But it was not so for Greek. From the Augustan age -onwards, this polished language began to dispute the mastery -with Latin, even in Rome itself.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Græcia capta ferum cepit captorem, et artes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Intulit agresti Latio—”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">applies to the language, even more than to the arts. In the -days of the Rhetorician, Molon, (Cicero’s master in eloquence,) -Greek had obtained the entrée of the Senate. In the time of -Tiberius, its use was permitted even in forensic pleadings. -With the emperors who succeeded,<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> the triumph of Greek -was still more complete. From Pliny downwards, there is -hardly an author of eminence in the Roman Empire who did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> -not write in that language;—Pausanias, Dion, Galen, even -the Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself, with all the traditionary -Roman associations of his name.</p> - -<p>It was so also with the Christian population and the Christian -literature of Rome. Almost all the Christian writings of the -first two centuries are in Greek. The early Roman liturgy -was Greek. The population of Rome was in great part a -Greek-speaking race. A large proportion of the inscriptions in -the Roman Catacombs are Greek, and some even of the Latin -ones are engraved in Greek characters. Nay, the early -Christian churches in Gaul, Vienne, Lyons, and Marseilles, -and the few remains of their literature which have reached us, -are equally Greek.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p>In a word, during the first two centuries of the Christian -era, making due allowance for the difference of the periods, -Greek and Latin held towards each other in Rome the same -relation which we find between Norman-French and Saxon in -England after the Conquest; and we may safely say that, during -those centuries, a knowledge of both languages was the ordinary -accomplishment of all educated men, and was shared by -many of the lowest of the population.</p> - -<p>Beyond this limit, however, we read of no remarkable -linguists even among the accomplished scholars of the Augustan -age. No one will doubt that the two Varros may fairly be -taken as, in this respect, the most favourable specimens of -the class. Now neither of them seems to have gone further -than a knowledge of Greek. Out of the four hundred and -ninety books which Marcus Terentius Varro wrote, there is -not one named which would indicate familiarity with any other -foreign language.</p> - -<p>The Neo-Platonists of the second and third centuries, whose -researches in Oriental Philosophy must have brought them into -contact with some of the Eastern languages, may possibly form -an exception to this general statement; but, on the whole, in -the absence of positive and exact information on the subject, -it may not unreasonably be conjectured that, among the -Christian scholars of the second, third, and fourth centuries, -we might find a wider range of linguistic attainments than -among their gentile contemporaries. The critical study of the -Bible itself involved the necessity of familiarity, not only with -Greek and Hebrew, but with more than one cognate oriental -dialect besides. St. Jerome, besides the classic languages and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> -his native Illyrian, is known to have been familiar with several -of the Eastern tongues; and it is not improbable that some -of the earlier commentators and expositors of the Bible may -be taken as equally favourable specimens of the Christian -linguists.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Origen’s Hexapla is a monument of his scholarship -in Hebrew, and probably in Syriac and Samaritan. -St. Clement of Alexandria was perhaps even a more -accomplished linguist; for he tells that of the masters under -whom he studied, one was from Greece, one from Magna -Græcia, a third from Cœle-Syria, a fourth from Egypt, a fifth -an Assyrian, and a sixth a Hebrew.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> And St. Gregory -Nazianzen expressly relates of his friend St. Basil, that, even -before he came to Athens to commence his rhetorical studies, -he was already well-versed in many languages.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p>From the death of Constantine, however, the study began -rapidly to decline, even among ecclesiastics. The disruption -of the Empire naturally tended to diminish the -intercourse between East and West, and by consequence the -interchange of their languages. It would appear, too, as if -the barbarian conquerors adopted, in favour of their own -languages, the same policy which the Romans had pursued -for Latin. Attila is said to have passed a law prohibiting the -use of the Latin language in his newly conquered kingdom,<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> -and to have taken pains, by importing native teachers, to -procure the substitution of Gothic in its stead. At all events, -in whatever way the change was brought about, a knowledge -of both Greek and Latin, which in the classic times of the -Empire had been the ordinary accomplishment of every educated -man, became uncommon and almost exceptional. Pope -Gregory the Great, who, bitterly as he has been assailed as an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> -enemy of letters, must be confessed to have been the most -eminent Western scholar of his day, spoke Greek very imperfectly; -he complains that it was difficult, even at Constantinople, -to find any one who could translate Greek satisfactorily into -Latin;<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> and a still earlier instance is recorded, in which a -pope, in other respects a man of undoubted ability, was -unable to translate the letter of the Greek patriarch, much -less to communicate with the Greek ambassadors, except -through an interpreter.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> - -<p>More than one, indeed, of the early theological controversies -was embittered through the misunderstandings caused between -the East and West by mutual ignorance of each other’s language. -Pelagius succeeded in obtaining a favourable decision -from the Council of Jerusalem in 415, chiefly because, while -his Western adversary, Orosius, was unable to speak Greek, -the fathers of the Council were ignorant of Latin. The -protracted controversy on the Three Chapters owed much of its -inveteracy to the ignorance of the Westerns<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> of the original -language of the works whose orthodoxy was impugned; and -it is well known that the condemnation of the decree of the -sixth council on the use of sacred images issued by the fathers -of Francfort, was based exclusively on a strangely erroneous -Latin translation of the acts of the council, through which -translation alone they were known in Germany and Gaul.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> - -<p>The foundation of the Empire of Charlemagne consummated -the separation between the Greek and Latin races and their -languages. The venerated names of Bede and of Alcuin in -the Western Church, and the more questionable celebrity of -the Patriarch Photius in the Eastern, constitute a passing exception. -But it need hardly be added that they stand almost<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> -entirely alone; and it will readily be believed that, amid the -Barbarian irruptions from without, and the fierce intestine revolutions, -of which Europe was the theatre during the rest of -the earlier mediæval period, even that familiarity with the -Greek and oriental languages which we have described, entirely -disappeared in the West.</p> - -<p>The wars of the Crusades, and the reviving intellectual activity -in which this and other great events of the second mediæval -period originated, gave a new impulse to the study of -languages. Frederic II., a remarkable example of the union -of great intellectual gifts with deep moral perversity, spoke -fluently six languages, Latin, Greek, Italian, German, Hebrew, -and even Arabic.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> The Moorish schools in Spain began to -be visited by Christian students. In this manner Arabic found -its way into the West; and the intermixture of learned Jews -in the European kingdoms afforded similar opportunities for -the cultivation of Hebrew, which were turned to account by -many, especially among biblical scholars. On the other hand, -notwithstanding the contempt for profane learning which -breathes through the Koran, the Saracen scholars began to -direct their attention to the learning of other creeds, and the -languages of other races. Ibn Wasil, who came into Italy in -1250 as ambassador to Manfred, the son of Frederic II., was -reported to be familiar with the Western tongues. The Spanish -Moors, too, began sedulously to cultivate Greek. The -works of Aristotle, of Galen, of Dioscorides, and many other -Greek writers, chiefly philosophical, were translated into Arabic -by Averroes, Ibn Djoldjol and Avicenna. And the Jewish -scholars of that age were equally assiduous in the cultivation -of Greek. The learned Rabbi Maimonides, born in Cordova -in the early part of the 12th century, was not only master -of many Eastern tongues, but was also thoroughly familiar -with the Greek language.</p> - -<p>It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that it was -among the Moors or the Hebrews that the revival of the study -of languages first commenced. Alcuin, in addition to the -modern languages with which his sojourn in various kingdoms -must have made him acquainted, was also familiar with Latin, -Greek, and Hebrew. Hermann, the Dalmatian, the first translator -of the Koran, was well acquainted with Latin, Greek, -Hebrew, and Arabic. The celebrated Raymond Lully, -who was a native of Majorca, was able to lecture in Latin<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> -Greek, Arabic, and perhaps Hebrew;—an accomplishment -especially wonderful in one who was among the most -laborious and prolific writers of his age, and who left after -him, according to some authorities, (though this, no doubt, -is a great exaggeration), not less than a thousand<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> works on -the most diversified subjects. At the instance of this eminent -orientalist, the council of Vienne directed that professorships -should be founded in all the great Universities, for the Hebrew, -Chaldee, and Arabic languages.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> - -<p>An example of, for the period, very remarkable proficiency -in modern languages is recorded in the history of the Fourth -Lateran Council, 1215. Roderigo Ximenes,<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Archbishop -of Toledo in the early part of the thirteenth century, a -native of Navarre, but a scholar of the University of Paris, -was one of the representatives of the Spanish Church at that -Council. A controversy regarding the Primacy of Spain had -arisen between the Sees of Toledo and Compostella, which was -referred for adjudication to the bishops there assembled. Ximenes -addressed to the council a long Latin oration in defence of -the claim of Toledo; and, as many of his auditory, which consisted -both of the clergy and the laity, were ignorant of that -language, he repeated the same argument in a series of discourses -addressed to the natives of each country in succession; -to the Romans, Germans, French, English, Navarrese, and -Spaniards,<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> each in their respective tongues. Thus the number -of languages in which he spoke was at least seven, and it is -highly probable that he had others at his disposal, if his auditory -had been of such a nature as to render them necessary.</p> - -<p>The taste for the languages and literature of the East received -a further stimulus from the foundation of the Christian -principalities at Antioch and Jerusalem, from the establishment -of the Latin Empire at Constantinople, and in general -from the long wars in the East, to which the enthusiasm of -the age attracted the most enterprising spirits of European<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> -chivalry. The pious pilgrimages, too, contributed to the same -result. Many of the knights or palmers, on their return from -the East, brought with them the knowledge, not only of Greek, -but of more than one of the oriental languages besides. -The long imprisonments to which, during the holy wars, and -the Latin campaigns against the Turks, they were often subjected, -supplied another occasion of familiarity with Arabic, -Syriac, Turkish, or Persian.</p> - -<p>The commercial enterprise of the Western Nations, and -especially of the Venetians and Genoese, was a still more powerful -instrument of the interchange of languages. Few modern -voyagers have possessed more of that spirit of travel which is -the best aid towards the acquisition of foreign tongues, than -the celebrated Marco Polo. It is hard to suppose that he can -have returned from his extensive wanderings in Persia, in Tartary, -in the Indian Archipelago, and in China and Tibet, -without some tincture of their languages. Still less can this be -supposed of his countryman, Josaphat Barbaro, who sojourned -for sixteen years among the Tartar tribes.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> It was in the -commercial settlements of the Venetians in the Levant that -the profession of interpreters, of which I shall have to speak -hereafter, and which has since become hereditary in certain -families, was originated or brought to perfection.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">It is only, however, from the revival of letters, properly so -called, that the history of linguistic studies can be truly said to -commence.</p> - -<p>The attention of Scholars, in the first instance, was chiefly -directed towards the classical languages and the languages of -the Bible. The Greek scholars who were driven to the West -by the Moslem occupation of Constantinople brought their language, -in its best and most attractive form, to the Universities<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> -of Italy. In the Council of Florence, in 1438, more than one -Italian divine, especially Ambrogio Traversari, was found capable -of holding discussions with the Greek representatives in -their native tongue. In like manner, the Jews and Moors, -who were exiled from Spain by the harsh and impolitic measures -of Ferdinand and Isabella, deposited through all the -schools of Europe the seeds of a solid and critical knowledge -of Hebrew and Arabic and their cognate languages. The -fruits of their teaching may be discerned at a comparatively -early period in the biblical studies of the time. Antonio de -Lebrixa published, in 1481, a grammar of the Latin, Castilian -and Hebrew languages: and I need only allude to the mature -and various oriental learning which Cardinal Ximenes found -ready to his hand, in the very first years of the sixteenth century, -for the compilation of the Complutensian Polyglot. Although -some of the scholars whom he engaged, as for -instance, Demetrius Ducas, were Greeks; and others, as -Alfonzo Zamora or Pablo Coronell,<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> were converted Jews; yet, -the names of Lopez de Zuniga, Nunez de Guzman, and Vergara<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> -are a sufficient evidence of the success with which the -co-operation of native scholars was enlisted in the undertaking.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">From this period the number of scholars eminent in the department -of languages becomes so great, and the history -of many among them presents so frequent points of resemblance, -that it may conduce to the greater distinctness of the narrative -to classify separately the most distinguished linguists of each -among the principal nations.</p> - -<h3>§ I. LINGUISTS OF THE EAST.</h3> - -<p>Although the inquiry must of course commence with the -East, the cradle of human language, unfortunately the materials -for this portion of the subject are more meagre and imperfectly -preserved than any other.</p> - -<p>In the East indeed, the faculty of language appears, for the -most part, in a form quite different from what we shall find -among the scholars of the West. The Eastern linguists, with a -few exceptions, have been eminent as mere <i>speakers</i> of languages, -rather than scholars even in the loosest sense of the -word.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span></p> - -<p>As it is in the East that the office of <i>Dragoman</i> or “interpreter” -first rose to the dignity of a profession, so all the most -notable Oriental linguists have belonged to that profession.</p> - -<p>A very remarkable specimen of this class occurs in -the reign of Soliman the Magnificent, and flourished in the -early part of the sixteenth century. A most interesting account -is given of him, under his Turkish name of Genus Bey, by -Thevet, in that curious repertory—his <i>Cosmographie Universelle</i>.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> -He was the son of a poor fisherman, of the Island of Corfu; -and while yet a boy, was carried away by pirates and sold as a -slave at Constantinople. Thence he was carried into Egypt, -Syria, and other Eastern countries; and he would also seem to -have visited most of the European kingdoms, or at least to have -enjoyed the opportunity of intercourse with natives of them all. -His proficiency in the languages both of the East and West, -drew upon him the notice of the Sultan, who appointed him his -First Dragoman, with the rank of Pasha. Thevet (who would -seem to have known him personally during his wanderings,) describes -him in his quaint old French, as “the first man of his day -for speaking divers sorts of languages, and of the happiest memory -under the Heavens.” He adds, that this extraordinary man -“knew perfectly no fewer than sixteen languages, viz: Greek, -both ancient and modern, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, -Moorish, Tartar, Armenian, Russian, Hungarian, Polish, Italian, -Spanish, German, and French.” Genus Bey, was, of course, a -renegade; but, from a circumstance related by Thevet, he appears -to have retained a reverence for his old faith, though not -sufficiently strong to be proof against temptation. He was solicited -by some bigoted Moslems to remove a bell, which the -Christians had been permitted to erect in their little church. -For a time he refused to permit its removal; but at last he was -induced by a large bribe, to accede to the demand. Thevet -relates that, in punishment of his sacrilegious weakness, he was -struck with that loathsome disease which smote King Herod, and -perished miserably in nine days from the date of this inauspicious -act.</p> - -<p>In Naima’s “Annals of the Turkish Empire,” another -renegade, a Hungarian by birth, is mentioned, who spoke -fourteen languages, and who, in consequence of this accomplishment, -was employed during a siege to carry a message through -the lines of the blockading army.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span></p> - -<p>A still more marvellous example of the gift of languages is -mentioned by Duret, in his <i>Trésor des Langues</i> (p. 964)—that of -Jonadab, a Jew of Morocco, who lived about the same period. -He was sold as a slave by the Moors, and lived for twenty-six -years in captivity in different parts of the world. With more -constancy to his creed, however, than the Corfu Christian, he -withstood every attempt to undermine his faith or to compel -its abjuration; and, from the obduracy of his resistance, received -from his masters the opprobrious name <i>Alhanar</i>, “the serpent” -or “viper.” Duret says that Jonadab spoke and wrote twenty-eight -different languages. He does not specify their names, -however, nor have I been able to find any other allusion to -the man.</p> - -<p>It would be interesting, if materials could be found for the -inquiry, to pursue this extremely curious subject through the -sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and especially in the -military and commercial establishments of the Venetians in -the Morea and the islands. The race of Dragomans has never -ceased to flourish in the Levant. M. Antoine d’Abbadie -informed me that there are many families in which this office, -and sometimes the consular appointment for which it is an indispensable -qualification, have been hereditary for the last two -or three centuries; and that it is very common to find among -them men and women who, sufficiently for all the ordinary -purposes of conversation, speak Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Italian, -Spanish, English, German, and French, with little or no -accent. This accomplishment is not confined to one single nation. -Mr. Burton, in his “Pilgrimage to Medinah and -Meccah,” mentions an Afghan who “spoke five or six languages.”<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> -He speaks of another, a Koord settled at Medinah, who -“spoke five languages in perfection.” The traveller, he assures -us, “may hear the Cairene donkey-boys shouting three or four -European dialects with an accent as good as his own;” and -he “has frequently known Armenians (to whom, among all -the Easterns, he assigns the first place as linguists) speak, -besides their mother tongue, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and -Hindostanee, and at the same time display an equal aptitude -for the Occidental languages.”<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> - -<p>But of all the Eastern linguists of the present day the most -notable seem to be the ciceroni who take charge of the pilgrims -at Mecca, many of whom speak fluently every one of the -numerous languages which prevail over the vast region of the -Moslem. Mr. Burton fell in at Mecca with a one-eyed Hadji,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> -who spoke fluently and with good accent Turkish, Persian, -Hindostani, Pushtu, Armenian, English, French, and Italian.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> -In the “Turkish Annals” of Naima, already cited, the learned -Vankuli Mohammed Effendi, a contemporary of Sultan -Murad Khan, is described as “a perfect linguist.”<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Many -similar instances might, without much difficulty, be collected; -nor can it be doubted that, among the numerous generations -which have thus flourished and passed away in the -East, there may have been rivals for Genus Bey, or even for -“the Serpent” himself. But unhappily their fame has been -local and transitory. They were admired during their brief -day of success, but are long since forgotten; nor is it possible -any longer to recover a trace of their history. They are -unknown,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Carent quia vate sacro.<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It would be a great injustice, however, to represent this as -the universal character of the Eastern linguists. On the contrary, -it has only needed intercourse with the scholars of the -West in order to draw out what appears to be the very -remarkable aptitude of the native Orientals for the scientific -study of languages. Thus the learned Portuguese Jew, Rabbi -Menasseh Ben Israel (1604-1657), was not only a thorough -master of the Oriental languages, but was able to write with -ease and exactness several of the languages of the West, and -published almost indifferently in Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, and -English.<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> I allude more particularly, however, to those bodies -of Eastern Christians, which, from their community of creed -with the Roman Church, have, for several centuries, possessed -ecclesiastical establishments in Rome and other cities -of Europe.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span></p> - -<p>The Syrians had been remarkable, even from the classic -times,<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> for the patient industry with which they devoted themselves -to the labour of translation from foreign languages into -their own. Many of the modern Syrians, however, have -deserved the still higher fame of original scholarship.</p> - -<p>The Maronite community of Syrian Christians has produced -several scholars of unquestioned eminence. Abraham Echellensis -was one of the chief assistants of Le Jay, at Paris, in the -preparation of his Polyglot. His services in a somewhat -similar capacity at Rome are familiar to all Oriental scholars. -But it is to the name of Assemani that the Maronite body -owes most of its reputation. For a time, indeed, literature -would seem to have been almost an inheritance in the family -of Assemani. It has contributed to the catalogue of Oriental -scholars no less than five of its members—Joseph Simon, who -died in 1768; his nephews, Stephen Evodius and Joseph -Lewis; Joseph Aloysius, who died at Rome in 1782; and -Simon, who died at Padua in 1821. The first of them is the -well-known editor of the works of St. Ephrem, and author of -the great repertory of Oriental ecclesiastical erudition, the -<i>Bibliotheca Orientalis</i>.</p> - -<p>The Greeks, with greater resources, and under circumstances -more favourable, are less distinguished as linguists. John -Matthew Caryophilos, a native of Corfu, who was archbishop -of Iconium and resided at Rome in the early part of the -seventeenth century, was a learned Orientalist, and, besides -several literary works of higher pretension, published some -elementary books on the Chaldee, Syriac, and Coptic languages. -But he has few imitators among his countrymen. Leo Allatius -(Allazzi), although a profound scholar, and familiar with every -department of the literature of the West, whether sacred or -profane,<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> can hardly be considered a linguist in the ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> -sense of the word. The same may be said of the many Greek -students, as, for instance, Metaxa, Meletius Syrius, and others, -who, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, repaired -to the universities of Italy, France, and even England.<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> It -can hardly be doubted, of course, that many of them acquired -a certain familiarity with the languages of the countries in -which they sojourned, but no traces of this knowledge appear to -be now discoverable. By far the most notable of them, Cyrillus -Lucaris, the well-known Calvinistic Patriarch of Constantinople, -spoke and wrote fluently Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Italian; -but, if his latinity be a fair sample of his skill in the other -languages, his place as a linguist must be held low indeed.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> -It should be added, however, that as polyglot speakers, the -Greeks have long enjoyed a considerable reputation. The -celebrated Panagiotes Nicusius<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> (better known by his Italianized -name Panagiotti) obtained, despite all the prejudices of race, -the post of First Dragoman of the Porte, about the middle of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> -the seventeenth century; and, from his time forward, the office -was commonly held by a Greek, until the separation of Greece -from the Ottoman Empire.</p> - -<p>Mr. Burton’s observation that no natives of the East seem -to possess the faculty of language in a higher degree than the -Armenians, is confirmed by the experience of all other travellers; -and the commercial activity which has long distinguished -them, and has led to their establishing themselves in almost -all the great European centres of commerce, has tended very -much to develope this national characteristic. A far higher -spirit of enterprise has led to the foundation of many religious -establishments of the Armenians in different parts of Europe, -which have rendered invaluable services, not only to their own -native language and literature, but to Oriental studies generally. -Among these the fathers of the celebrated Mechitarist order -have earned for themselves, by their manifold contributions to -sacred literature, the title of the Benedictines of the East. -The publications of this learned order (especially at their principal -press in the convent of San Lazzaro, Venice,) are too well -known to require any particular notice. Most of their -publications regard historical or theological subjects; but -many also are on the subject of language,<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> as grammars, -dictionaries, and philological treatises. A little series of -versions, the Prayers of St. Nerses in twenty-four languages, -printed at their press, is one of the most beautiful specimens -of polyglot typography with which I am acquainted. Among -the scholars of the order the names of Somal, Rhedeston, -Ingigean, Avedichian, Minaos, and, above all, of the two -Auchers, are the most prominent. One of the latter is best -known to English readers as the friend of Byron, his instructor -in Armenian, and his partner in the compilation of an Anglo-Armenian -grammar. The fathers of this order generally, -however, both in Vienna and in Italy, have long enjoyed the -reputation of being excellent linguists. Visitors of the -Armenian convent of St. Lazzaro at Venice cannot fail to be -struck by this accomplishment among its inmates. Besides<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> -the ordinary Oriental languages, most of them speak Italian, -French, and often German. I have heard from M. Antoine -d’Abbadie that, in 1837, Dr. Pascal Aucher spoke no less -than twelve languages.</p> - -<h3>§ II. LINGUISTS OF ITALY.</h3> - -<p>The most prominent among the nations of the West at the -period immediately succeeding the Revival of Letters, is of -course Italy.</p> - -<p class="tb">The first in order, dating from this period, among the -linguists of Italy, is also in many respects the most remarkable -of them all;—at least as illustrating the possibility of uniting -in a single individual the most diversified intellectual attainments, -each in the highest degree of perfection;—the celebrated -Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, son of the Duke John Francis -of that name.<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> He was born in 1463, and from his childhood -was regarded as one of the wonders of his age. Before he -had completed his tenth year, he delivered lectures in civil and -canon law, not less remarkable for eloquence than for learning. -While yet a boy he was familiar with all the principal Greek -and Latin classics. He next applied himself to Hebrew; and, -while he was engaged in that study, a large collection of -cabalistic manuscripts, which were represented to him as -genuine works of Esdras, turned his attention to the other -Eastern languages, and especially the Chaldee, the Rabbinical -dialect of Hebrew, and the Arabic. Unfortunately, the strange -and fantastic learning with which he was thus thrown into -contact gave a tinge to his mind, which appears to have affected -all his later studies. His progress in languages, however, -cannot but be regarded as prodigious, when we consider the -poverty of the linguistic resources of his age. At the age of -eighteen he had the reputation of knowing no fewer than -twenty-two languages, a considerable number of which he -spoke with fluency. And while he thus successfully cultivated -the department of languages, he was, at the same time, an -extraordinary proficient in all the other knowledge of his day. -His memory was so wonderful as to be reckoned among the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> -marvellous examples of that gift which are enumerated by the -writers upon this faculty of the human mind. Cancellieri states -that he was able, after a single reading, not only to recite the -contents of any book which was offered to him, but to repeat -the very words of the author, and even in an inverted order.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> -In 1486 he maintained a thesis in Rome, <i>De omni Re Scibili</i>. -Much of the learning which it displayed was certainly of a very -idle and puerile character; much of it, too, was the merest -pedantry; but nevertheless it is undeniable that the nine -hundred propositions of which it consisted, comprised every -department of knowledge cultivated at that period. And it -is impossible to doubt that, if Pico’s career had been prolonged -to the usual term of human life, his reputation would have -equalled that of the greatest scholars, whether of the ancient or -the contemporary world. He was cut off, however, at the -early age of thirty-one.</p> - -<p>It is not unnatural to suppose that this circumstance, as -well as the rank of Pico, and the singular precocity of his -talents, may have led to a false or exaggerated estimate of his -acquirements. But, even allowing every reasonable deduction -on this score, his claim must be freely admitted to the character -of one of the greatest wonders of his own or any other age, -whether he be considered as a linguist or as a general scholar.</p> - -<p>Marvellous, however, as is the reputation of Pico della -Mirandola, perhaps the science of language owes more to a -less brilliant but more practical scholar of the same period, -Teseo Ambrosio, of the family of the Albonesi. He was born -at Pavia, in 1469. His admirers have not failed to chronicle -such precocious indications of genius as his composing Italian, -Latin, and even Greek poetry, before he was fifteen; but he -himself confesses that his proficiency in these studies dates from -a considerably later time. He entered the order of Canons -Regular of St. Augustine, and fixed his residence at Rome, -where he devoted himself with great assiduity to Oriental -studies, and acquired such a reputation, that when, in the -Lateran Council of 1512, the united Ethiopic and Maronite -Christians solicited the privilege of using their own peculiar -liturgies while they maintained the communion of the Roman -church, it was to him the task of examining those liturgies, -and of ascertaining how far their teaching was in accordance -with the doctrines of the Church, was entrusted by the Holy -See. Teseo assures us that, at the time when he received this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -commission, he knew little more than the elements of Hebrew, -Chaldee, and Arabic. He set to work with the assistance of -a native Syrian (who, however, was entirely ignorant of Latin); -and, carrying on their communication by mutual instruction, -he was soon able not only to master the difficulties of these -languages, but to set on foot what may be regarded as (at -least conjointly with the Complutensian Polyglot) one of the -earliest systematic schemes for the promotion of Oriental studies. -He had types cast expressly for his projects; and he himself -prepared the Chaldee Psalter for the press, and repaired to his -native city of Pavia for the purpose of having it printed. He -died (1539) before it was completed;<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> but his types were -turned to account by other scholars. It was with Teseo’s -types that William Postel printed two out of the five Pater -Nosters contained in his collection—the Chaldee and the Armenian.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> -And to him we owe a still greater boon—the first -regular attempt at a Polyglot Grammar; which, however -imperfectly, comprises the elements of Chaldee, Syriac, Armenian, -and ten other languages.</p> - -<p>The scholarship of Ambrogio was derived almost entirely -from books. His countryman, Antonio Pigafetta, enjoyed -among his contemporaries a different reputation, that of considerable -skill as a speaker of foreign languages, acquired -during his extensive and protracted wanderings. Pigafetta was -born at Vicenza, towards the end of the fifteenth century. -In the expedition undertaken, under the patronage of Charles -V., for the conquest of the Moluccas, by the celebrated Fernando -Magellan, the first circumnavigator of the globe, one of -the literary staff was Pigafetta, who acted as historiographer -of the expedition, and to whose narrative we are indebted for -all the particulars of it, which have been preserved.</p> - -<p>Marzari describes Pigafetta as a prodigy of learning; and, -although this has been questioned by later inquirers,<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> there is no -reason to doubt his acquirements in modern languages at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> -least, and particularly his skill and success in obtaining information -as to the languages of the countries which he visited. -It is to him<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> we are indebted for the first vocabularies of the -language of the Philippine and Molucca islands, the merit of -which is recognized even by recent philologers.<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> - -<p>It may be permitted to class with the linguists of Italy, a -Corsican scholar of the same period, Augustine, bishop of -Nebia. It is difficult to pronounce definitively as to the extent -of his attainments; but his skill in the ancient languages, -at least, is sufficiently attested by the polyglot Bible which he -published, (containing the Hebrew, Greek, Chaldee, and Arabic -texts,) of which Sixtus of Sienna speaks in the highest terms; -and if we could receive without qualification the statement of the -same writer, we should conclude that Augustine’s familiarity -with modern languages was even more extensive. Sixtus of -Sienna describes him as “deeply versed in the languages of -all the nations which are scattered over the face of the earth.”</p> - -<p>Towards the close of the sixteenth century the study of -languages in Italy assumed that practical character in relation -to the actual exigencies of missionary life by which it has ever -since been mainly characterized in that country. The Oriental -press established at Florence by the Cardinal Ferdinand de -Medici, under the superintendence of the great orientalist -Giambattista Raimondi;<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> the opening at Rome of the College -<i>De Propaganda Fide</i>; the foundation of the College of -San Pancrazio, for the Carmelite Oriental Missions in 1662; -the opening of similar Oriental schools in the Dominican, the -Franciscan, Augustinian, and other orders, for the training of -candidates for their respective missions in the East; and above -all, the constant intercourse with the Eastern missions which -began to be maintained, gave an impulse to Oriental studies,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> -the more powerful and the more permanent, because it was -founded on motives of religion; and although we do not meet -among the missionary linguists that marvellous variety of languages -which excites our wonder, yet we find in them abundant -evidences of a solid and practical scholarship, whose -fruits, if less attractive, are more useful and more enduring. -Nearly all the linguists of Italy from the close of the sixteenth -century, appear to have been either actually missionaries, or -connected with the colleges of the foreign mission.</p> - -<p>Thus, Antonio Giggei, one of the “Oblates of Mary,” -taught Persian in a missionary college, at Milan, and, -at a later period, taught Arabic in Florence. Giggei’s -<i>Thesaurus Linguæ Arabicæ</i>,<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> is still much esteemed. He wrote -besides, a Grammar of Chaldee and of Rabbinical Hebrew, -which is still preserved in manuscript in the Ambrosian Library -at Milan; and his translation of a Rabbinical commentary -on the Proverbs of Solomon, published at Milan in -1620, is an evidence of his familiarity, not only with Biblical -Hebrew, but with the language of the Talmud in all its -successive phases.</p> - -<p>In like manner, Clemente Galani, the eminent Armenian -scholar, spent no less than twelve years as a missionary in -Armenia. On his return to Rome, in 1650, he was such a -proficient in the language that he was able, not only to write -both in Armenian and Latin his well-known work on the -conformity of the creeds of the Armenian and Roman -Churches,<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> but also to deliver theological lectures to the Armenian -students in Rome in their native tongue.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> - -<p>Tommaso Ubicini was a Franciscan missionary in the Levant.<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> -He was born at Novara, and entered young into the -order of Friar-minors. He was named guardian of the Franciscan -convent in Jerusalem; and, during a residence of many -years, made himself master, in addition to Hebrew and Chaldee,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> -of the Syriac, Arabic, and Coptic languages. The latter years -of his life were spent in the convent of San Pietro in Montorio -at Rome; where, besides publishing several works upon -these languages, be taught them to the students of his order. -His great work, <i>Thesaurus Arabico-Syro-Latinus</i> was not published -till 1636, several years after his death.<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> - -<p>Ludovico Maracci, best known to English readers by the -copious use to which Gibbon has turned his translation and -annotations of the Koran, was one of the missionary “Clerks of -the Mother of God.” He was born at Lucca in 1612, and first -obtained notice by the share which he had in the Roman edition -of the Arabic Bible, published in 1671. He taught Arabic -for many years with great distinction in the University of the -Sapienza at Rome. But his best celebrity is due to his critical -edition of the Koran, and the admirable translation which accompanies -it.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> From this repertory of Arabic learning, Sale -has borrowed, almost without acknowledgment, or rather with -occasional depreciatory allusions, all that is most valuable in -his translation and notes.</p> - -<p>One of Maracci’s pupils, John Baptist Podestà, (born at -Fazana early in the 17th century), is another exception to the -general rule. Having perfected his Oriental studies in Constantinople, -he was appointed Oriental Secretary of the Emperor -Leopold at Vienna, and attained considerable reputation -as Professor of Arabic in that university. He published a -Grammar of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish; which, however, -was severely, and, indeed, ferociously, criticised by his contemporary -and rival, Meninski.</p> - -<p>But Podestà’s contemporary, Paolo Piromalli, was trained -in the school of the Mission. He was a native of Calabria, -and became a member of the Dominican order. Piromalli -was for many years attached to the Mission of his order in -Armenia, and was eminently successful in reconciling the separated -Armenians to the Roman Church, having even the -happiness to number among his converts the schismatical -patriarch himself. From Armenia, Piromalli passed into the -Missions of Georgia and Persia. He afterwards went, in the -capacity of Apostolic Nuncio, to Poland, with a commission of -much importance to the Emperor from the Pope, Urban VIII.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> -In the course of one of his voyages he was made prisoner by -the Algerine corsairs, and carried as a slave to Tunis; but he -was soon after redeemed and called to Rome, whence, after he -had been entrusted with the revision of an Armenian Bible, -he was sent back to the East, as Bishop of Nachkivan in -1655. He remained in this charge for nine years, and was -called home as Bishop of Bisignano, where he died in 1667. -Piromalli published two dictionaries, Persian and Armenian, -and several other works upon these languages.<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> - -<p>The Augustinian order in Italy, also, produced a linguist, -not inferior in solidity, and certainly superior in range of -attainments, to any of those hitherto enumerated—Antonio -Agostino Giorgi.<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> He was born at San Mauro, near Rimini, -in 1711, and entered the Augustinian order at Bologna; but -Benedict XIV., who, during his occupancy of the see of -Bologna, had become acquainted with his merit, invited him -to Rome after his elevation to the Papacy, and appointed him -to a professorship in the Sapienza. Father Giorgi occupied -this post with much distinction for twenty-two years, till his -death, in 1797. His acquirements as a linguist were more -various than those of any of the scholars hitherto named. -Besides modern languages, he knew not only Greek, Hebrew, -Chaldee, Samaritan, and Syriac, but also Coptic and (what -was at that period a much more rare accomplishment) Tibetan. -On the last named language he compiled an elementary work -for the use of missionaries, which, although it is not free from -inaccuracies, deserves, nevertheless, the highest praise as a -first essay in that till then untried language.</p> - -<p>Simon De Magistris, one of the priests of the Oratory, -(born at Ferrara in 1728) was for many years at the head of the -Congregation of the Oriental Liturgies in Rome. He was not -only deeply versed in the written languages of the East, but -spoke the greater number of them with the same ease and -fluency as his native Italian.<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> - -<p>Of the learned Dominican, Finetti, I am unable to offer -any particulars. His treatise “On the Hebrew and its cognate -Languages” is a sufficient evidence of his ability as an Orientalist; -but it contains no indication of anything beyond the -learning which is acquired from books.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span></p> - -<p>The same may be said of the Oratorian, Valperga de -Galuso. He was born at Turin in 1737, but lived chiefly in -the convents of his order at Naples, Malta, and Rome. In -addition, however, to his accomplishments as an Orientalist, -Padre de Galuso had the reputation of being one of the most -skilful mathematicians of his day. He died in 1815.</p> - -<p>Our information regarding the two De Rossi’s, Ignazio, -author of the <i>Etymologicum Copticum</i>, and Giambernardo, of -Parma, is more detailed and more satisfactory.</p> - -<p>Ignazio de Rossi was born at Viterbo in 1740, and entered -the Jesuit society at a very early age. In the schools of -Macerata, Spoleto, and Florence, he was employed in teaching -the Humanities and Rhetoric until the suppression of the order -in 1773; after which event he repaired to Rome, and received -an appointment as professor of Hebrew in the University, -which he held for thirty years, rejoining his brethren, however, -at the first moment of their restoration under Pius VII.</p> - -<p>As a general scholar, Father De Rossi was one of the first -men of his day. His memory may be ranked among the most -prodigious of which any record has been preserved. On one -occasion, during the <i>villeggiatura</i> at Frascati, it was tried by -a test in some respects the most wonderful which has ever been -applied in such cases. A line being selected at pleasure from -any part of any one of the four great Italian classics, Dante, -Petrarca, Tasso, and Ariosto, De Rossi immediately repeated -the hundred lines <i>which followed next in order</i> after that which -had been chosen; and, on his companions expressing their -surprise at this extraordinary feat (which he repeated several -times), he placed the climax to their amazement by reciting -<i>in the reverse order</i> the hundred lines immediately <i>preceding</i> -any line taken at random from any one of the above-named -poets.<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> His reputation as an Orientalist was founded chiefly -upon his familiarity with Hebrew and the cognate languages. -But he was also a profound Coptic scholar; and it is a subject -of regret to many students of that language that his numerous -MSS. connected therewith have been suffered to remain so long -unpublished. He died in 1824.</p> - -<p>Giovanni Bernardo de Rossi was a linguist of wider range.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> -He was born at Castel Nuovo, in Piedmont, in 1742, and in -his youth was destined for the ecclesiastical state. He began -his collegiate studies at Turin, and manifested very early that -taste for Oriental literature which distinguished his after life. -Within six months after he commenced his Hebrew studies, -he produced a long Hebrew poem. In addition to the Biblical -Hebrew, he was soon master of the Rabbinical language, of -Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. He learned besides, by private -study, most of the languages of modern Europe;—his plan -being to draw up in each a compendious grammar for his own -use. In this way he prepared grammars of the German, -English, and Russian languages. In 1769, he obtained an -appointment in the Royal Museum at Turin; but, being invited -at the same time to undertake the much more congenial -office of Professor of Oriental Languages in the new University -of Parma, he gladly transferred himself to that city, where he -continued to reside, as Professor of Oriental Literature, for -more than forty years. During the latter half of this period, -De Rossi maintained a frequent correspondence with Mezzofanti, -upon the subject of their common studies.<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> From the terms -in which such a scholar as Mezzofanti speaks of De Rossi, -and the deference with which he appeals to his judgment, we -may infer what his acquirements must have been. On occasion -of the marriage of the Infante of Parma, Charles Emanuel, he -published a polyglot epithalamium,<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>—a Collection of Hymeneal -Odes in various languages—which even still is regarded as the -most extraordinary of that class of compositions<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> ever produced -by a single individual. It does not belong to my present -plan to allude to the works of De Rossi, or to offer any -estimate of his learning; but without entering into any such -particulars, or attempting to specify the languages with which -he was acquainted, it may safely be said that no Italian linguist<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> -from the days of Pico della Mirandola can be compared with -him, either in the solidity or the extent of his linguistic attainments. -De Rossi died in 1831.<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> - -<p>The fame of the linguists of Italy during the nineteenth -century has been so completely eclipsed by that of Mezzofanti, -that I shall not venture upon any enumeration of them, though -the list would embrace such names as Rossellini, Luzatto, -Molza, Laureani, &c. There are few of whom it can be -said with so much truth as of Mezzofanti:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent12">Prœgravat artes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Infra se positas.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>§ III. SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE LINGUISTS.</h3> - -<p>The catalogue of Spanish linguists opens with a name hardly -less marvellous than that which I have placed at the head of -the linguists of modern Italy—that of Fernando di Cordova;—one -of those universal geniuses, whom Nature, in the prodigal -exercise of her creative powers, occasionally produces, as if to -display their extent and versatility. He was born early in -the fifteenth century, and was hardly less precocious than his -Italian rival, Pico della Mirandola. At ten years of age he -had completed his courses of grammar and rhetoric. He could -recite three or four pages of the Orations of Cicero after a single -reading. Before he attained his twenty-fifth year, he was installed -Doctor in all the faculties; and he is said by Feyjoo to -have been thorough master (supo con toda la perfeccion) of -Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic. Feyjoo adds, -that he knew, besides, all the principal European languages.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> -He could repeat the entire Bible from memory. He was profoundly -versed in theology, in civil and canon law, in mathematics, -and in medicine. He had at his perfect command all the -works of St. Thomas, of Scotus, of Alexander of Hales, of -Galen, Avicenna, and the other lights of the age in every department -of science.<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Like the Admirable Crichton, too, he -was one of the most accomplished gentlemen and most distinguished -cavaliers of his time. He could play on every known -variety of instrument; he sang exquisitely; he was a most<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> -graceful dancer; an expert swordsman; and a bold and skilful -rider; and he was master of one particular art of fence by -which he was able to defeat all his adversaries, by springing -upon them at a single bound of twenty-three or twenty-four -feet! In a word, to adopt the enthusiastic panegyric of the -old chronicler on whose simple narrative these statements rest, -“if you could live a hundred years without eating or drinking, -and were to give the whole time to study, you could not -learn all that this young man knew.”<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> The occasion to which -this writer, quoting Monstrelet’s Chronicle,<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> refers was the -Royal Fête at Paris in 1445; so that Fernando must have -been born about 1425. Of his later history but little is known. -He was sent as ambassador to Rome in 1469, and died in -1480.</p> - -<p>A Portuguese of the same period, Pedro de Covilham, is -mentioned by Damian a Goes in his curious book, <i>De Ethiopum -Moribus</i> in terms which, if we could take them literally, -should entitle him to a place among the linguists. During -the reign of John II. of Portugal (1481-95) Covilham, -who had already distinguished himself as an explorer under -Alfonzo V., was sent, in company with Alfonzo de Payva, in -search of the kingdom of Prester John, which the traditional -notions of the time placed in Abyssinia. Payva died upon -the expedition. Covilham, after visiting India, the Persian -Gulf, and exploring both the coasts of the Red Sea, at length -reached Abyssinia, where he was received with much distinction -by the King. He married in the country, and obtained -large possessions; but, in accordance with a law of Abyssinia<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> -similar to that which still exists in Japan, prohibiting any -one who may have once settled in the country ever again to -leave it, he was compelled to adopt Abyssinia as a second<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -home. When, therefore, he was recalled by John II., -the King of Abyssinia refused to relinquish him, pleading -“<i>that he was skilled in almost all the languages of men</i>,”<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> and -that he had made to him, as his own adopted subject, large -grants of land and other possessions. Covilham, after a residence -of thirty-three years, was still alive in 1525, when the -embassy under Alvarez de Lima reached Abyssinia.</p> - -<p>Very early in the sixteenth century, I find a notice of a -Spanish convert from Judaism, called in Latin “Libertas Cominetus” -(<i>Libertas</i> being, in all probability, but the translation -of his Hebrew patronymic,) whose acquirements are more -precisely defined. He was born at Cominedo, towards the -close of the fifteenth century, and renounced his creed about -1525. His fellow-convert Galatinus, an Italian Jew, and -himself no mean linguist, describes Libertas in his work “<i>De -Arcanis Catholicæ Veritatis</i>,” as not only deeply versed in Holy -Writ, but master of fourteen languages.<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> The Biographical -Dictionaries and other books of reference are quite silent regarding -him.</p> - -<p>The name of Benedict Arias Montanus, editor of the so-called -“King of Spain’s Polyglot Bible,” is better known to Biblical -students. He was born at Frexenal<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> in Estremadura in 1527 -and studied in the university of Alcala, then in the first freshness -of the reputation which it owed to the magnificence of -the great Cardinal Ximenes. Montanus entered the order of St. -James, and after accompanying the Bishop of Segovia to the -Council of Trent, where he appeared with great distinction, -returned to the Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de los Angelos -near Aracena, with the intention of devoting himself entirely -to study and prayer. From this retreat, however, he was drawn -by Philip II., who employed him to edit a new Polyglot -Bible on a more comprehensive plan than the Complutensian -Polyglot. On the completion of this task, Philip sought to -reward the learned editor by naming him to a bishopric; but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> -Montanus had humility and self-denial enough to decline the -honour, and died an humble chaplain, in 1598. The estimate -formed by his contemporaries of Montanus’s attainments in languages -falls little short of the marvellous. Le Mire describes -him as <i>omnium fere gentium linguis et literis raro exemplo -excultus</i>; but we may more safely take his own modest statement -in the preface of his Polyglot, that he knew ten languages.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> - -<p>The celebrated Father Martin Del Rio, best known perhaps -to English readers, since Sir Walter Scott’s pleasant sketch, by -his vast work on Demonology, was also a very distinguished linguist. -Del Rio, although of Spanish parentage, was born at Antwerp -in May 1551. His first university studies were made at -Paris; but he received the Doctor’s degree at Salamanca, and has -merited a place in Baillet’s <i>Enfans Celebres</i>, by publishing an -edition of Solinus, with a learned commentary, before he was -twenty years old.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Del Rio’s talents and reputation opened for -him a splendid career; but he abandoned all his offices and all -his prospects of preferment, in order to enter the Society of -the Jesuits at Valladolid in 1580. According to Feyjoo,<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Del -Rio knew ten languages; and Baillet would appear to imply -even more, when he says that he was master of <i>at least</i> that -number. Del Rio died at Louvain in 1608.</p> - -<p>One of Del Rio’s most distinguished contemporaries, the -celebrated dramatic poet, Lope de Vega, although his celebrity -rests upon a very different foundation, was also a very respectable -linguist, so far, at least, as regards the modern -languages. The extraordinary fecundity of this author, especially -when we consider his extremely chequered and busy career -as a secretary, a soldier, and eventually a priest, would seem to -preclude the possibility of his having applied himself to any -other pursuit than that of dramatic literature. The mere -physical labour of committing to paper (putting composition -out of view altogether) his <i>fifteen hundred</i> versified plays,<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> -three hundred interludes and sacred dramas<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>, ten epic poems, -and eight prose novels, besides an infinity of essays, prefaces, -dedications, and other miscellaneous pieces, would appear more -than enough to occupy the very busiest human life. Yet notwithstanding -all this prodigious labour, Lope de Vega contrived -to find time for the acquisition of Greek, Latin, Italian, -Portuguese, French, and probably English! Well might Cervantes -call him “a Prodigy of Nature!”</p> - -<p>Although the missionaries of Spain and Portugal are, as a -body, less distinguished in the department of languages than -those of Italy, yet there are some among them not inferior to -the most eminent of their Italian brethren. The great Coptic -and Abyssinian scholar, Antonio Fernandez, was a Portuguese -Jesuit. He was born at Lisbon in 1566, and entered the -Jesuit society as a member of the Portuguese province of the -order. After a long preparatory training, he was sent, in -1602, to Goa, the great centre of the missionary activity of -Portugal. His ultimate destination, however, was Abyssinia, -which country he reached in 1604, in the disguise of an -Armenian. He resided in Abyssinia for nearly thirty years, -and was charged with a mission to the Pope Paul III. and -Philip IV. of Spain, from the king, who, under the influence -of the missionaries, had embraced the Catholic religion. -Fernandez set out with some native companions in 1615; but -they were all made prisoners at Alaba, and narrowly escaped -being put to death; nor was he released in the end, except -on condition of relinquishing this intended mission, and returning -to Abyssinia. On the death of the king, who had -so long protected them, the whole body of Catholic missionaries -were expelled from Abyssinia by the new monarch in 1632; -and Fernandez returned, after a most chequered and eventful -career, to Goa, where he died, ten years later, in 1642. Of -his acquirements in the Western languages, I am unable to -discover any particulars, but he was thoroughly versed in -Armenian, Coptic, and Amharic or Abyssinian, in both of which -last named languages he has left several ritual and ascetic -works for the use of the missionaries and native children.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span></p> - -<p>The Spanish and Portuguese missionaries in America, too, -(especially those of the Jesuit order) rendered good service to -the study of the numerous native languages of both continents.<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> -Most of the modern learning on the subject is derived from -their treatises, chiefly manuscript, preserved by the Society.</p> - -<p>Nor were the other orders less efficient. Padre Josef -Carabantes, a Capuchin of the province of Aragon, (born in -1648) wrote a most valuable practical treatise for the use of -missionaries, which was long a text book in their hands.</p> - -<p>One of the Portuguese missionaries in Abyssinia, Father -Pedro Paez, who succeeded Fernandez, and whose memory -still lingers among the native traditions of the people,<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> not -only became thorough master of the popular dialects of the -various races of the Valley of the Nile, but attained a proficiency -in Gheez, the learned language of Abyssinia, not equalled -even by the natives themselves.<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> A Franciscan missionary -at Constantinople about the same time, mentioned by Cyril Lucaris, -is described by him as “acquainted with many languages;”<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> -but I have not been able to discover his name.</p> - -<p>By far the most eminent linguist of the Peninsula, however, -is the learned Jesuit, Father Lorenzo Hervas-y-Pandura. -He was born in 1735, of a noble family, at Horcajo, in la -Mancha. Having entered the Jesuit society, he taught philosophy -for some years in Madrid, and afterwards in a convent -in Murcia; but at length, happily for the interests of science -as well as of religion, he embraced a missionary career, and remained -attached to the Jesuit mission of America, until 1767. -On the suppression of the order, Father Hervas settled at -Cesena, and devoted himself to his early philosophical -studies, which, however, he ultimately, in a great measure, -relinquished in order to apply himself to literature and especially -to philology. When the members of the society were permitted -to re-establish themselves in Spain, Hervas went to -Catalonia; but he was obliged to return to Italy, and settled -at Rome, where he was named by Pius VII. keeper of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> -the Vatican Library. In this honourable charge he remained till -his death in 1809.</p> - -<p>Father Hervas may with truth be pronounced one of the -most meritorious scholars of modern times. His works are -exceedingly numerous; and, beside his favourite pursuit, philology, -embrace almost every other conceivable subject, theology, -mathematics, history, general and local, palæography; not to -speak of an extensive collection of works connected with the -order, which he edited, and a translation of Bercastel’s History -of the Church, (with a continuation), executed, if not by himself, -at least under his superintendence. Besides all the -stupendous labour implied in these diversified undertakings, -Father Hervas has the still further merit of having devoted -himself to the subject of the instruction of the deaf-mute, for -whose use he devised a little series of publications, and published -a very valuable essay on the principles to be followed -in their instruction.<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> - -<p>Our only present concern, however, is with his philological -and linguistic publications, especially in so far as they evince -a knowledge of languages. They form part of a great work -in twenty-one 4to. volumes, entitled <i>Idea dell’ Universo</i>; and -were printed at intervals, at Cesena, in Italian, from which -language they were translated into Spanish by his friends and -associates, and republished in Spain. It will only be necessary -to particularize one or two of them—the <i>Saggio Prattico -delle Lingue</i>, which consists of a collection of the Lord’s Prayer -in three hundred and seven languages, together with other -specimens of twenty-two additional languages, in which the -author was unable to obtain a version of the Lord’s Prayer, -all illustrated by grammatical analyses and annotations; and the -<i>Catalogo delle Lingue conosciute, e Notizia delle loro Affinità -e Diversità</i>.<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> In the compilation of these, and his other -collections, it is true, Hervas had the advantage, not alone of -his own extensive travel, and of his own laborious research, -but also of the aid of his brethren; and this in an Order -which numbered among its members, men to whose adventurous -spirit every corner of the world had been familiar:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“In Greenland’s icy mountains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On India’s coral strand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where Afric’s sunny fountains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Roll down their golden sand.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">But he, himself, compiled grammars of no less than eighteen -of the languages of America; which, with the liberality of -true science, he freely communicated to William von Humboldt -for publication in the <i>Mithridates</i> of Adelung. He -was a most refined classical scholar and a profound Orientalist. -He was perfectly familiar, besides, with almost all the European -languages; and, wide as is the range of tongues which -his published works embrace, his critical and grammatical notes -and observations, even upon the most obscure and least known -of the languages which they contain, although in many cases -they have of course all the imperfections of a first essay, exhibit, -even in their occasional errors, a vigorous and original -mind.</p> - -<p>The name of Father Hervas-y-Pandura is a fitting close to -the distinguished line of linguistic “Glorias de España.”</p> - -<h3>§ IV. FRENCH LINGUISTS.</h3> - -<p>The University of Paris did not enter into the study of -languages so early, or with so much zeal as the rival schools -of Spain and Italy.</p> - -<p class="tb">The first<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> great name in this department which we meet in -the history of French letters, is that of the celebrated Rabbinical -scholar, William Postel. This extraordinary man was -born at Dolerie in 1510. Having lost both his parents at a -very early age, he was left entirely dependent upon his own -exertions for support; and, with that indomitable energy -which often accompanies the love of knowledge, he began, -from his very boyhood, a systematic course of self-denial, by -which he hoped to realize the means of prosecuting the studies -for which he had conceived an early predilection. Having -scraped together, in the laborious and irksome occupation of a -school-master, what he regarded as a sufficient sum for his -modest wants, he repaired to Paris; but he had scarcely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> -reached that city, when he was robbed by some designing -sharpers, of the fruits of all his years of self-denial; and a -long illness into which he was thrown by the chagrin and privation -which ensued, reduced him to the last extremity. -Even still, however, his spirit was unbroken. He went to -Beauce, where, by working as a daily labourer, he earned the -means of returning to Paris as a poor scholar. Presenting -himself at the College of Saint Barbara, he obtained a place as -a servant, with permission to attend the lectures; and having in -some way got possession of a Hebrew grammar, he contrived, -in his stolen half hours of leisure, to master the language -so thoroughly, that in a short time his preceptors found themselves -outstripped by their singular dependent.</p> - -<p>His reputation as an Oriental scholar spread rapidly. When -La Fôret’s memorable embassy to the Sultan was being organized -by Francis I., the king was recommended to entrust to -Postel a literary mission, somewhat similar to that undertaken -during the reign of Louis Philippe, at the instance of M. de -Villemain, one of the objects of which was to collect Greek and -Oriental MSS. It was on his return from this expedition, (in -which he visited Constantinople, Greece, Asia Minor, and -part of Syria,) that Postel met Teseo Ambrosio at Venice, -and published what may be said to have been the first systematic -attempt as yet made to bring together materials for -the philosophical investigation of the science of language—being -a collection of the alphabets of twelve languages, with -a slight account of each among the number.<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> He was -soon after appointed Professor of Mathematics, and also -of Oriental Languages, in the College de France; but the -wild and visionary character of his mind appears to have been -quite unsuited to any settled pursuit. He had conceived the -idea that he was divinely called to the mission of uniting all -Christians into one community, the head of which he recognized -in Francis I. of France, whom he maintained to be the -lineal descendant of Sem, the eldest of the sons of Noah. -Under the notion that this was his pre-ordained vocation, -he refused to accompany La Fôret on a second mission to the -East, although he was pressed to do so by the king himself, -and a sum of four thousand crowns was placed at his disposal -for the purchase of manuscripts. He offered himself, in -preference, to the newly founded society of the Jesuits; but his -unsuitableness for that state soon became so apparent, -that St. Ignatius of Loyola, then superior of the society, refused<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> -to receive him. After many wanderings in France, Italy, and -Germany, and an imprisonment in Venice, (where his fanaticism -reached its greatest height,) he undertook a second expedition -to the East, in 1549, whence he returned in 1551, with a large -number of valuable MSS. obtained through the French -ambassador, D’Aramont, but wilder and more visionary than -ever. He resumed his lectures in the College des Lombards, -now the property of the Irish College in Paris. The crowds -who flocked to hear him were so great, that they were obliged -to assemble in the court, where he addressed them from one -of the windows. His subsequent career was a strange alternation -of successes and embroilments. The Emperor Ferdinand -invited him to Vienna, as Professor of Mathematics. While -there, he assisted Widmandstadt in the preparation of his -Syriac New Testament. He left Vienna, however, after a short -residence, and betook himself to Italy, in 1554 or 1555. He -was put into prison in Rome, but liberated in 1557. In 1562 -he returned to Paris. The extravagancies of his conduct and -his teaching led to his being placed under a kind of honourable -surveillance, in 1564, in the monastery of St. Martin des -Champs, near Paris. Yet so interesting was his conversation that -crowds of the most distinguished of all orders continued to visit -him in this retreat till his death in 1581. Postel’s attainments -in languages living or dead, were undoubtedly most extensive. -Not reckoning the modern languages, which he may be presumed -to have known, his Introduction exhibits a certain familiarity -with not less than twelve languages, chiefly eastern; and he is said -to have been able to converse in most of the living languages -known in his time. Duret states, as a matter notorious to all -the learned, that he “knew, understood, and spoke fifteen languages;”<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> -and it was his own favourite boast, that he could -traverse the entire world without once calling in the aid of an -interpreter. In addition to his labours as a linguist, Postel -was a most prolific writer. Fifty-seven of his works are enumerated -by his biographer.</p> - -<p>It is to this learned but eccentric scholar that we owe the -idea of the well-known polyglot collections of the Lord’s Prayer. -These compilations as carried out by later collectors, have -rendered such service to philology, that, although many -of their authors were little more than mere compilers, and -have but slender claims to be considered as linguists, -in the higher sense of the word, it would be unpardonable to -pass them over without notice in a Memoir like the present.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> -Towards the close of the fourteenth century, a Hungarian -soldier named John Schildberger, while serving in a campaign -against the Turks in Hungary, was made prisoner by the -enemy; and on his return home, after a captivity of thirty-two -years, published (in 1428) an account of his adventures. He -appended to his travels, as a specimen of the languages of the -countries in which he had sojourned, the Lord’s Prayer in -Armenian, and also in the Tartar tongue. This, however, was -a mere traveller’s curiosity: but Postel’s publication (Paris, -1558) is more scientific. It contains specimens of the characters -of twelve different languages, in five of which—Chaldee, Hebrew, -Arabic, Greek, and Armenian, the Pater Noster is printed -both in Roman characters and in those of the several -languages. This infant essay of Postel was followed, ten years -after, by the collection of Theodore Bibliander, (the classicized -form of the German name <i>Buchmann</i>,) which contains fourteen -different Pater Nosters. Conrad Gesner, in 1555, increased -the number to twenty-two, to which Angelo Rocea, an Augustinian -Bishop, added three more (one of them Chinese) in -1591. Jerome Megiser, in 1592, extended the catalogue to -forty. John Baptist Gramaye, a professor in Louvain, made -a still more considerable stride in advance. He was taken -prisoner by the Algerine corsairs, in the beginning of the -next century, and after his return to Europe, collected no -fewer than a hundred different versions of the Pater Noster, -which he published in 1622. But his work seems to have -attracted little notice; for more than forty years later, (1668) -a collection made by Bishop Wilkins, the learned linguist, to -whom I shall hereafter return, contains no more than fifty.</p> - -<p>In all these, however, the only object appears to have been -to collect as large a number of languages as possible, without -any attention to critical arrangement. But, in the latter part -of the same century, the collection of Andrew Müller (which -comprises eighty-three Pater Nosters) exhibits a considerable -advance in this particular. Men began, too, to arrange and -classify the various families. Francis Junius (Van der Yonghe) -published the Lord’s Prayer in nineteen different languages of -the German family; and Nicholas Witsen devoted himself to -the languages of Northern Asia—the great Siberian family,—in -eleven of which he published the Lord’s Prayer in 1692. -This improvement in scientific arrangement, however, was not -universal; for although the great collection of John Chamberlayne -and David Wilkins, printed at Amsterdam in 1715, -contains the Lord’s Prayer in a hundred and fifty-two languages,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> -and that of Christian Frederic Gesner—the well-known -<i>Orientalischer und Occidentalischer Sprachmeister</i> (Leipzic -1748)—in two hundred, they are both equally compiled upon -the old plan, and have little value except as mere specimens -of the various languages which they contain.<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> - -<p>It is not so with a collection already described, which was -published near the close of the same century, by a learned -Spanish Jesuit, Don Lorenzo Hervas y Pandura. It is but -one of that vast variety of philological works from the same -prolific pen which, as I have stated, appeared, year after year, -in Cesena, originally in Italian, though they were all afterwards -published in a Spanish translation, in the author’s native -country. Father Hervas’s collection, it will be remembered, -contains the Lord’s Prayer in no less than <i>three hundred and -seven</i> languages, besides hymns and other prayers in twenty-two -additional dialects, in which the author was not able to -find the Pater Noster.</p> - -<p>Almost at the very same time with this important publication -of Hervas, a more extensive philological work made its -appearance in the extreme north, under the patronage and -indeed the direct inspiration, of the Empress Catherine II. of -Russia. The plan of this compilation was more comprehensive -than that of the collections of the Lord’s Prayer. It consisted -of a Vocabulary of two hundred and seventy-three familiar and -ordinary words, in part selected by the Empress herself, and -drawn up in her own hand. This Vocabulary, which is very -judiciously chosen, is translated into two hundred and one -languages. The compilation of this vast comparative catalogue -of words was entrusted to the celebrated philologer, -Pallas, assisted by all the eminent scholars of the northern -capital; among whom the most efficient seems to have been -Bakmeister, the Librarian of the Imperial Academy of St. -Petersburg. The opportunities afforded by the patronage of -a sovereign who held at her disposition the services of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> -functionaries of a vast, and, in the literal sense of the word, a -polyglot empire like Russia, were turned to the best account. -Languages entirely beyond the reach of private research, were -unlocked at her command; and the rude and hitherto almost -unnamed dialects of Siberia, of Northern Asia, of the Halieutian -islanders, and the nomadic tribes of the Arctic shores, -find a place in this monster vocabulary, beside the more -polished tongues of Europe and the East. Nevertheless, the -Vocabulary of Pallas (probably from the circumstance of its -being printed altogether in the Russian character)<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> is but -little familiar to our philologers, and is chiefly known from -the valuable materials which it supplied to Adelung and his -colleagues in the compilation of the well-known <i>Mithridates</i>.</p> - -<p>The <i>Mithridates</i> of Adelung closes this long series of philological -collections; but although in its general plan, it is only -an expansion of the original idea of the first simple traveller -who presented to his countrymen, as specimens of the languages -of the countries which he had visited, versions in each -language of the Prayer which is most familiar to every Christian, -yet it is not only far more extensive in its range than -any of its predecessors, but also infinitely more philosophical -in its method. There can be no doubt that the selection -of a prayer so idiomatical, and so constrained in its form -as the Lord’s Prayer, was far from judicious. As a specimen -of the structure of the various languages, the choice of it was -singularly infelicitous; and the utter disregard of the principles<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> -of criticism (and in truth of everything beyond the mere -multiplication of specimens), which marks all the early -collections, is an additional aggravation of its original defect. -But it is not so in the <i>Mithridates</i> of Adelung. It retains -the Lord’s Prayer, it is true, like the rest, as the specimen -(although not the only one) of each language; but it abandons -the unscientific arrangement of the older collections, the -languages being distributed into groups according to their -ethnographical affinities. The versions, too, are much more -carefully made; they are accompanied by notes and critical -illustrations; and in general, each language or dialect, with -the literature bearing upon it, is minutely and elaborately -described. In a word, the <i>Mithridates</i>, although, as might -be expected, still falling far short of perfection, is a strictly -philosophical contribution to the study of ethnography; and -has formed the basis, as well as the text, of the researches of -all the masters in the modern schools of comparative philology.<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> - -<p>To return, however, to the personal history of linguists, -from which we have been called aside by the mention of the -work of Postel.</p> - -<p>A celebrity as a linguist equally distinguished, and even -more unamiable, than Postel’s, is that of his countryman and -contemporary, the younger of the two Scaligers.</p> - -<p>Joseph Justus Scaliger was born at Agen in 1544, and -made his school studies at Bordeaux, where he was only remarkable -for his exceeding dulness, having spent three years -in a fruitless, though painfully laborious, attempt to master -the first rudiments of the Latin language. These clouds of the -morning, however, were but the prelude of a brilliant day. -His after successes were proportionately rapid and complete. -The stories which are told of him seem almost legendary. -He is said to have read the entire Iliad and Odyssey in twenty-one -days, and to have run through the Greek dramatists -and lyric poets in four months. He was but seventeen -years old when he produced his Œdipus. At the same age -he was able to speak Hebrew with all the fluency of a Rabbi. -His application to study was unremitting, and his powers of -endurance are described as beyond all example. He himself -tells, that even in the darkness of the night, when he awoke -from his brief slumbers, he was able to read without lighting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> -his lamp!<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> So powerful, according to his own account, was his -eye-sight, that like the knight of Deloraine:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Alike to him was tide and time,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moonless midnight, and matin prime!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">After a brilliant career at Paris, he was invited to occupy the -chair of Belles Lettres at Leyden, where the best part of his -life was spent. Like most eminent linguists, Scaliger possessed -the faculty of memory in an extraordinary degree. He -could repeat eighty couplets of poetry after a single reading: -he knew by heart every line of his own compositions, and it -was said of him that he never forgot anything which he had -learnt once. But with all his gifts and all his accomplishments, -he contrived to render himself an object of general dislike, -or at least of general dis-esteem. His vanity was insufferable; -and it was of that peculiarly offensive kind which is -only gratified at the expense of the depreciation of others. -His life was a series of literary quarrels; and in the whole -annals of literary polemics, there are none with which, for -acrimony, virulence, and ferocity of vituperation, these quarrels -may not compete. And hence, although there is hardly a -subject, literary, antiquarian, philological, or critical, on which -he has not written, and (for his age) written well, there are -few, nevertheless, who have exercised less influence upon contemporary -opinion. Scaliger spoke thirteen languages, in -the study of which Baillet<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> says he never used either a dictionary -or a grammar. He himself declares the same. The -languages ascribed to him are strangely jumbled together in -the following lines of Du Bartas:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">—————“Scaliger, merveille de notre age,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soleil des savants, qui parle elegamment</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hebreu, Greçois, Romain, Espagnol, Allemand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">François, Italien, Nubien, Arabique,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Syriaque, Persian, Anglois, Chaldaique.”<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In his case it is difficult, as in most others, to ascertain the -degree of his familiarity with each of these. To Du Bartas’s -poetical epithet, <i>elegamment</i>, of course, no importance is to be -attached; and it would perhaps be equally unsafe to rely on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> -the depreciatory representations of his literary antagonists. -One thing, at least, is certain, that he himself made the most -of his accomplishment. He was not the man to hide his -light from any overweening delicacy. He was one of the -greatest boasters of his own or any other time. In one place -he boasts that there is no language in which he could write -with such elegance as Arabic.<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> In another he professes to -write Syriac as well as the Syrians themselves.<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> And it is -curiously significant of the reputation which he commonly -enjoyed, that the wits of his own day used to say that there -was one particular department of each language in which -there could be no doubt of his powers—its Billingsgate vocabulary! -There was not one, they confessed, of the thirteen -languages to which he laid claim, in which he was not fully -qualified to scold!<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> - -<p>The eminent botanist, Charles Le Cluse, (Clusius), a contemporary -of Scaliger, can hardly be called a great linguist, -as his studies were chiefly confined to the modern European -languages, with several of which he was thoroughly conversant; -but he is remarkable as having contributed, by a familiarity -with modern languages very rare among the naturalists -of his day, to settle the comparative popular nomenclature -of his science. He is even still a high authority on this -curious branch of botanical study.</p> - -<p>The reader who remembers the extraordinary reputation enjoyed -among his contemporaries by the learned Nicholas Peiresc, -may be disappointed at finding him overlooked in this enumeration: -but, as of his extraordinary erudition he has left no permanent -fruit in literature, so of his acquirements as a linguist -no authentic record has been preserved. The same is true -of his friend, Galaup de Chasteuil, a less showy, perhaps, but -better read orientalist. Through devotion to these studies, -quite as much as under the influence of religious feeling, -Chasteuil made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and, in 1631, -permanently fixed his abode in Palestine; and so thoroughly -conversant did he become, not only with the language and -literature, but also with the manners, usages and feelings of -the Maronites of the Lebanon, that, on the death of their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> -patriarch, despite the national predilections by which all Easterns -are characterized, they desired to elect him, a Western as -he was, head of their national church.<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Lewis de Dieu, the -two Morins—Stephen, the Calvinist minister, and John, the -learned Oratorian convert—the two Cappels, Lewis and James, -and even the celebrated D’Herbelot, author of the <i>Bibliothèque -Orientale</i>, all belong rather to the class of oriental scholars -than of linguists in the popular acceptation of the word. -The two Cappels, as well as their adversaries, the Buxtorfs, -are best known in connexion with the controversy about the -Masoretic Points.</p> - -<p>One of the writers named in a previous page, Claude Duret, -although Adelung<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> could not discover any particulars regarding -him, beyond those which are detailed in the title of his -book, (where he is merely described as “Bourbonnais, President -a Moulins,”) nevertheless deserves very special mention -on account of the extensive and curious learning, not alone in -languages, but also in general literature, history and science, -which characterize his rare work, <i>Thresor de l’Histoire des -Langues de cet Univers</i>.<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> This work is undoubtedly far from -being exempt from grave inaccuracies; but it is nevertheless, -for its age, a marvel, as well of curious learning and extensive -research, as of acquaintance with a great many (according to -one account, seventeen,) languages, both of the East and of -the West.<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> How much of this, however, is mere book-scholarship, -and how much is real familiarity, it is impossible, in the -absence of all details of the writer’s personal history, to decide.</p> - -<p>Although far from being so universal a linguist as Duret, -the great biblical scholar, Samuel Bochart (born at Rouen in -1599) was much superior to him in his knowledge of Hebrew -and the cognate languages, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and even -Coptic. His <i>Hierozoicon</i> and <i>Geographia Sacra</i>, as monuments -of philological as well as antiquarian knowledge, have maintained -a high reputation even to the present time, notwithstanding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> -the advantages enjoyed by modern students of biblical antiquities -and history.<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> - -<p>Bochart’s pupil and his friend in early life, (although they -were bitterly alienated from each other at a later period, and -although Bochart’s death is painfully associated with their -literary quarrel<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a>) the celebrated Peter Daniel Huet, can hardly -deserve a place in the catalogue of French linguists; but he -was at least a liberal and enlightened patron of the study.</p> - -<p>Many of the French missionaries of the seventeenth century -would deserve a place in this series, and among them especially -Francis Picquet, who, after serving for several years as French -consul at Aleppo, embraced a missionary life, and at last -was consecrated Archbishop of Bagdad in 1674. Le Jay, the -projector and editor of the well-known polyglot Bible which -appeared in France a few years before the rival publication of -Brian Walton, though he is often spoken of as the mere patron -of the undertaking, was in reality a very profound and accomplished -Orientalist. The same may be said of Rapheleng, the -son-in-law of Plantin, and often described as his mere assistant -in the publication of the King of Spain’s Polyglot Bible. -Matthew Veysiere de la Croze, too, the apostate Benedictine, -although a superficial scholar and a hasty and inaccurate -historian, was a very able linguist.</p> - -<p>But, as we descend lower in the history of this generation -of French linguists, we find comparatively few names which, -for variety of attainments, can be compared with those of Italy -or Germany. Beyond the cultivation of the Biblical languages, -little was done in France for this department of study during -the rest of the seventeenth century. There seems but too -much reason to believe that the reputation of the learned but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> -pedantic Menage as a linguist, is extravagantly exaggerated. -He was an accomplished classicist, and his acquaintance with -modern languages was tolerably extensive. He was a good -etymologist, too, according to the servile and unscientific system -of the age. But his claims to Oriental scholarship appear -very questionable. And in truth during this entire period, if -it were not for the interest of the controversy above referred -to, on the antiquity and authority of the Masoretic Points, -it might almost be said that Oriental studies had fallen entirely -into disuse in France. Even of those who took a part in that -discussion, the name of Masclef (who knew Greek, Hebrew, -Syriac, Chaldee, and Arabic, with perhaps some of the modern -languages) is the only one which can approach the rank of -the higher masters of the study. The three Buxtorfs (father, -son, and grandson), Guarin, and even Girandeau, were mere -Hebraists; patient and accurate scholars, it is true, but with -few of the characteristics of an eminent linguist. La Bletterie -can hardly claim even this qualified reputation.</p> - -<p>There is one brilliant exception—the eminent historian and -controversialist, Eusebius Renaudot. He was born at Paris -in 1646. Having made his classical studies under the Jesuits, -and those of Philosophy in the College d’Harcourt, he entered -the congregation of the Oratory. But he very soon quitted -that society; and, although he continued to wear the ecclesiastical -dress, he never took holy orders. His life, however, -was a model of piety and of every Christian virtue; and it was -his peculiar merit that, while many of his closest friends and -most intimate literary allies were members of the Jansenist -party, Renaudot was inflexible in his devotion to the judgment -of the Holy See. His first linguistic studies lay among the -Oriental languages, the rich fruit of which we still possess in his -invaluable Collection of Oriental Liturgies, and in the last two -volumes of the <i>Perpetuitè de la Foi sur l’Eucharistie</i>, which -are also from his prolific pen. But he soon extended his researches -into other fields; and he is said to have been master -of seventeen languages,<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> the major part of which he spoke -with ease and fluency.</p> - -<p>But Renaudot stands almost alone.<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> The only names which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> -may claim to be placed in comparison with his, are those of -the two Petis, François Petis, and François Petis de la Croix. -The latter especially, who succeeded his father as royal Oriental -interpreter, under Lewis XIV., and made several expeditions -to the East in this capacity, was well versed, not only -in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Tartar, but also in Coptic and -Armenian. His translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments -is the work by which he is best known; but his dissertations -and collections on Oriental history are full of valuable -learning. The eighteenth century in France was a period of -greater activity. Etienne Fourmont, although born in 1683, -belongs properly to the eighteenth century. He is often cited -as an example of extraordinary powers of memory, having, -when a mere boy, learnt by rote the whole list of Greek Roots -in the Port Royal Treatise, so as to repeat them in every -conceivable order. He soon after published in French verse -all the roots of the Latin language. But it is as an Orientalist -that he is chiefly remarkable. He was appointed to -the chair of Arabic in the College Royal, and also to the -office of Oriental interpreter in the Bibliothèque du Roi; and -soon established such a reputation as an Orientalist, that he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> -was consulted on philological questions by the learned of every -country in Europe. He was thoroughly master of Greek, -Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Persian, and was one of the first -French scholars who, without having visited China,<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> attained -to any notable proficiency in Chinese.</p> - -<p>His nephew, Michael Angelo Deshauterayes, born at Conflans -Ste. Honorine, near Pontoise, 1724, was even more precocious. -At the age of ten, he commenced his studies under -Fourmont’s superintendence. He thus became familiar at an -early age with Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Chinese; so that -in his twenty-second year he was appointed to succeed his -uncle as Oriental Interpreter to the Royal Library, to which -post, a few years later, was added the Arabic professorship -in the College de France. In these employments he devoted -himself to Oriental studies for above thirty years.</p> - -<p>Another pupil of Fourmont, Joseph de Guignes, born at -Pontoise in 1721, attained equal eminence as an Orientalist. -At Fourmont’s death, he was associated with the last named -linguist on the staff of the Royal Library. But De Guignes’ -merit in the department of Oriental history and antiquities, has -almost overshadowed his reputation as a mere linguist, although -he was a proficient in all the principal Eastern languages, and -in many of those of Europe. His History of the Huns, Turks, -Moguls, and other Tartar nations, notwithstanding that many -of its views are now discarded, is still regarded as a repertory -of Oriental learning; and, while both in this and -also in some others of his works, De Guignes is often visionary -and even paradoxical,<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> he is acknowledged to have -done more for Chinese literature in France, than any linguist -before Abel Remusat; nor is there one of the scholars of the -eighteenth century, who in the spirit, if not in the letter, of -the views which he put forward, comes so near to the more -enlarged and more judicious theories of the scholars of our -own day, on the general questions of philology.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span></p> - -<p>From the days of De Guignes the higher departments of -linguistic science fell for a time into disrepute in France; but -a powerful impulse was given to the practical cultivation of -Oriental languages by the diplomatic relations of that kingdom -with Constantinople and the Levant. The official appointments -connected with that service served to supply at once a -stimulus to the study and an opportunity for its practice. Cardonne, -Ruffin,<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Legrand, Kieffer, Venture de Paradis, and -Langlés, were all either trained in that school, or devoted -themselves to the study as a preparation for it.</p> - -<p>Of these, perhaps John Michael Venture De Paradis is the -most remarkable. His father had been French Consul in the -Crimea, and in various cities of the Levant, and appears to -have educated the boy with a special view to the Oriental -diplomatic service. From the College de Louis le Grand, he -was transferred, at the age of fifteen, to Constantinople, and, -before he had completed his twenty-second year, he was appointed -interpreter of the French embassy in Syria. Thence -he passed into Egypt in the same capacity, and, in 1777, -accompanied Baron de Tott in his tour of inspection of the -French establishments in the Levant. He was sent afterwards -to Tunis, to Constantinople, and to Algiers; and eventually -was attached to the ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, with -the Professorship of Oriental Languages. His last service was -in the memorable Egyptian expedition under Bonaparte, in -which he fell a victim to fatigue, and the evil effects of the -climate, in 1799.<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p> - -<p>Lewis Matthew Langlés<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> was a Picard, born at Peronne, -in 1763. From his boyhood he too was destined for the -diplomatic service; and studied first at Montdidier, and afterwards -in Paris, where he obtained an employment which -afforded him considerable leisure for the pursuit of his favourite -studies. He learned Arabic under Caussin de Perceval, -and Persian under Ruffin. Soon afterwards, however, he engaged -in the study of Mantchu, and in some time became -such a proficient in that language, that he was entrusted with -the task of editing the Mantchu Dictionary of Pere Amiot. -From that time his reputation was established, at least with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> -the general public. His subsequent publications in every department -of languages are numerous beyond all precedent. He -had the reputation of knowing, besides the learned languages, -Chinese, Tartar, Japanese, Sanscrit, Malay, Armenian, Arabic, -Turkish, and Persian. But it must be added that the solidity of -these attainments has been gravely impeached, and that by -many he is regarded more as a charlatan than as a scholar.</p> - -<p>No such cloud hangs over the fame of, after De Guignes, -the true reviver of Chinese literature, Abel Remusat.<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> He -was born at Paris in 1788, and brought up to the medical -profession; and it may almost be said that the only time devoted -by him to his early linguistic studies was stolen from the -laborious preparation for the less congenial career to which -he was destined by his father. By a very unusual preference, -he applied himself, almost from the first, to the Chinese and -Tartar languages. Too poor to afford the expensive luxury of a -Chinese dictionary, he compiled, with incredible labour, a vocabulary -for his own use; and the interest created at once by -the success of his studies, and by the unexampled devotedness -with which they were pursued, were so great as to procure for -him, at the unanimous instance of the Academy of Inscriptions, -the favour, at that period rare and difficult, of exemption from -the chances of military conscription. From that time forward -he applied himself unremittingly to philological pursuits; and, -although he was admitted doctor of the faculty of medicine, -at Paris in 1813, he never appears to have practised actively -in the profession. On the creation of the two new chairs of -Chinese and Sanscrit, in the College de France, after the Restoration, -Remusat was appointed to the former, in November, -1814; from which period he gave himself up entirely to literature. -He was speedily admitted into all the learned societies -both of Paris and of other countries; and in 1818 he became one -of the editors of the <i>Journal des Savans</i>. On the establishment -(in which he had a chief part,) of the Société Asiatique, -in 1822, he was named its perpetual secretary; and, on the -death of Langlés, in 1824, he succeeded to the charge of -keeper of Oriental MSS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi. This -office he continued to hold till his early and universally lamented -death in 1832. Remusat’s eminence lay more in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> -depth and accuracy of his scholarship in the one great branch -of Oriental languages, which he selected as his own—those of -Eastern Asia—and in the profoundly philosophical spirit which -he brought to the investigation of the relations of these languages -to each other, and to the other great families of the -earth, than in the numerical extent of his acquaintance with -particular languages. But this, too, was such as to place him -in the very first rank of linguists.</p> - -<p>A few words must suffice for the French school since Remusat, -although it has held a very distinguished place in -philological science. The Société Asiatique, founded at -Remusat’s instance, and for many years directed by him as -secretary, has not only produced many eminent individual -philologers, as De Sacy, Quatremere, Champollion, Renan, -Fresnel, and De Merian; but, what is far more important, it -has successfully carried out a systematic scheme of investigation, -by which alone it is possible, in so vast a subject, to -arrive at satisfactory results. M. Stanislas Julien’s researches -in Chinese; M. Dulaurier’s in the Malay languages; Father -Marcoux’s in the American Indian; Eugene Bournouf’s -in those of Persia; the brothers Antoine and Arnauld d’Abbadie -in the languages of East Africa, and especially in -the hitherto almost unknown Abyssinian and Ethiopian families; -Eugene Borè in Armenian;<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> M. Fresnel’s explorations -among the tribes of the western shores of the Red Sea; -and many similar successful investigations of particular -departments, are contributing to lay up such a body of facts, -as cannot fail to afford sure and reliable data for the scientific -solution by the philologers of the coming generation, of those -great problems in the science of language, on which their -fathers could only speculate as a theory, and at the best -could but address themselves in conjecture. Although I -have no intention of entering into the subject of living French -linguists, yet there is one of the gentlemen whom I have mentioned, -M. Fulgence Fresnel, whom I cannot refrain from -alluding to before I pass from the subject of French philology. -His name is probably familiar to the public at large, in connexion -with the explorations of the French at Nineveh; but he -is long known to the readers of the Journal Asiatique as a -linguist not unworthy of the very highest rank in that branch<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> -of scholarship. M. d’Abbadie,<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> himself a most accomplished -linguist, informed me that M. Fresnel, although exceedingly -modest on the subject of his attainments, has the reputation -of knowing twenty languages. The facility with which he -has acquired some of these languages almost rivals the fame -of Mezzofanti. M. Arago having suggested on one occasion -the desirableness of a French translation of Berzelius’s Swedish -Treatise “On the Blow-pipe,” Fresnel at once set about learning -Swedish, and in three months had completed the desired -translation! He reads fluently Hebrew, Greek, Romaic, Latin, -Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and what little is -known of the Hieroglyphical language. He is second only to -Lane as an Arabic scholar. Among the less known languages -of which M. Fresnel is master, M. d’Abbadie heard him speak -a few sentences of one, of which he may be said to have himself -been the discoverer, and which is, in some respects, completely -anomalous. M. Fresnel describes this curious language -in the Journal Asiatique, July, 1838. It is spoken by the -savages of Mahrak; and as it is not reducible to any of the -three families, the Aramaic, the Canaanitic, or the Arabic, of -which, according to Gesenius, the Ethiopic is an elder branch, -M. Fresnel believes it to be the very language spoken by the -Queen of Saba! Its present seat is in the mountainous district -of Hhacik, Mirbât, and Zhafâr. Its most singular characteristic -consists in its articulations, which are exceedingly -difficult and most peculiar. Besides all the nasal sounds of -the French and Portuguese, and that described as the “sputtered -sound” of the Amharic, this strange tongue has three articulations, -which can only be enunciated with <i>the right side of the -mouth</i>; and the act of uttering them produces a contortion -which destroys the symmetry of the features! M. Fresnel -describes it as “horrible, both to hear and to see spoken.” -Endeavouring to represent the force of one of these sounds by -the letters <i>hh</i>, he calls the language <i>Ehhkili</i>.<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span></p> - -<h3>§ V. LINGUISTS OF THE TEUTONIC RACE.<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></h3> - -<p>If we abstract from the Sacred Languages, the German -scholars were slow in turning themselves to Oriental studies.</p> - -<p>John Müller, of Königsberg, commonly known as Regiomontanus, -although he had the highest repute for learning -of all the German scholars of the fifteenth century, does not -appear to have gone beyond the classical languages. Martin -Luther, Reuchlin,<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> Ulrich Van Hutten, Hoogenstraet, were Hebraists -and no more; and John Widmanstadt, when he wished -to study Arabic, was forced to make a voyage to Spain expressly -for the purpose.</p> - -<p class="tb">The first student of German race at all distinguished -by scholarship in languages, was Theodore Bibliander,<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> who, -besides Greek and Hebrew, was also well versed in Arabic, -and probably in many other Oriental tongues.<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> The celebrated -naturalist, Conrad Gesner, though perhaps not so solidly versed -as Bibliander, in any one language, appears to have possessed -a certain acquaintance with a greater number. His <i>Mithridates; -de Differentiis Linguarum</i>,<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> resembles in plan as -well as in name, the great work of Adelung. The number -and variety of the languages which it comprises is extraordinary -for the period. It contains the Pater Noster in twenty-two -of these; and, although the observations on many of the -specimens are exceedingly brief and unsatisfactory, yet they -often exhibit much curious learning, and no mean familiarity with -the language to which they belong.<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> Gesner’s success as a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> -linguist is the more remarkable, inasmuch as that study by no -means formed his principal pursuit. Botany and Natural History -might much better be called the real business of his -literary life. Accordingly, Beza says of him, that he united -in his person the very opposite genius of Varro and Pliny; -and, although he died at the comparatively early age of forty-nine, -his works on Natural History fill nearly a dozen folio volumes. -Both Gesner and Bibliander fell victims, one in 1564, -the other in 1565, to the great plague of the sixteenth -century.</p> - -<p>Jerome Megiser, who, towards the close of the same century -compiled the more extensive polyglot collection of Pater Nosters -already referred to, need scarcely be noticed. He is described -by Adelung,<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> as a man of various, but trivial and superficial -learning.</p> - -<p>Not so another German scholar of the same age, Jacob -Christmann, of Maintz. Christmann was no less distinguished -as a philosopher than as a linguist. He held for many years -at Heidelberg the seemingly incompatible professorships of -Hebrew, Arabic, and Logic, and is described as deeply versed -in all the ancient and modern languages, as well as in mathematical -and astronomical science.<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> - -<p>It would be unjust to overlook the scholars of the Low -Countries during the same period. Some of these, as for example, -Drusius, and the three Schultens, father, son, and grandson, -were chiefly remarkable as Hebraists. But there are many -others, both of the Belgian and the Dutch schools, whose -scholarship was of a very high order. Among the former, -Andrew Maes (Masius,) deserves a very special notice. -He was born in 1536, at Linnich in the diocese of Courtrai. -In 1553 he was sent to Rome as chargé d’affaires. -During his residence there, in addition to Greek, Latin, -Spanish, and other European languages, with which he was -already familiar, he made himself master, not only of Italian, -but also of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac. He is said<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> to have -assisted Arias Montanus in the compilation of his Polyglot -Bible; but of this no mention is made by Montanus in the -preface. No doubt, however, can be entertained of his -great capacity as an Orientalist; and Sebastian Munster used -to say of him that he seemed to have been brought up among<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> -the Hebrews, and to have lived in the classic days of the -Roman Empire. About the same period, or a few years later, -David Haecx published his dictionary of the Malay languages, -one of the earliest contributions to the study of that curious -family. Haecx, though he spent his life in Rome, was a native -of Antwerp.</p> - -<p>John Baptist Gramaye, already named as a collector of -Pater Nosters, acquired some reputation as one of the first contributors -to the history of the languages of Africa, although -his work is described by Adelung as very inaccurate. Gramaye -was a native of Antwerp, and became provost of Arnheim -and historiographer of the Low Countries. On a voyage from -Italy to Spain, he fell into the hands of Algerine corsairs, who -carried him to Algiers. There he was sold as a slave, and was -detained a considerable time in Barbary. Having at length obtained -his liberty, he published, after his return, a diary of his -captivity, a descriptive history of Africa, and a polyglot collection -of Pater Nosters, among which are several African languages -not previously known in Europe.<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Very little, however, -is known of his own personal acquirements, which are noticeable, -perhaps, rather on account of their unusual character, -than of their great extent or variety.</p> - -<p>Some of the linguists of Holland may claim a higher rank. -The well-known Arabic scholar, Erpenius, (Thomas Van -Erpen,) was also acquainted with several other Oriental languages, -Hebrew, Chaldee, Persian, Turkish, and Ethiopic. -His countryman and successor in the chair of Oriental languages -at Leyden, James Golius, was hardly less distinguished. -Peter Golius, brother of James, who entered the Carmelite -Order and spent many years as a missionary in Syria and -other parts of the East, became equally celebrated in Rome -for his Oriental scholarship. In all these three cases the -knowledge of the languages was not a mere knowledge of -books, but had been acquired by actual travel and research in -the various countries of the East.</p> - -<p>John Henry Hottinger, too, a pupil of James Golius at -Leyden, and the learned Jesuit, Father Athanasius Kircher, -belong also to this period. The latter, who is well known -for his varied and extensive attainments in every department -of science, was moreover a linguist of no ordinary merit.<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> -He was born at Geyzen, near Fulda, in 1602, and entered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> -the Jesuit society in 1618, when only sixteen years old. No -detailed account is given by his biographers (with whom languages -were of minor interest,) of the exact extent of his attainments -in the department of languages; but they were both -diversified and respectable, and in some things he was far beyond -the men of his own time. His <i>Lingua Egyptiaca Restituta</i> -may still be consulted with advantage by the student of -Coptic.</p> - -<p>Most of these men, however, confined themselves chiefly to one -particular department. The first really universal linguist of -Germany is the great Ethiopic scholar, Job Ludolf, who was -born at Erfurt, in 1624. Early in life he devoted himself to -the study of languages; and his extensive travels—first as preceptor -to the sons of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, and afterwards -as tutor to the children of the Swedish ambassador in Paris—coupled -with his unexampled industry,<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> enabled him, not only -to hold a high rank in history and general literature, but also -to attain to a success as a linguist which had rarely -been equalled before his time. He is said to have been master -of twenty-five languages,<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> but as I have never seen any -exact enumeration of them, I am inclined to allow for considerable -exaggeration.</p> - -<p>There is even more reason to suspect of exaggeration the -popular accounts which have come down to us of a self-educated -linguist of the same period—a Saxon peasant called -Nicholas Schmid, more commonly known as Cüntzel of -Rothenacker, from the name of the village where he was born, -in 1606. This extraordinary man was the son of a peasant. -His youth was entirely neglected. He worked as a common -labourer on his father’s farm, and, until his sixteenth year, -never had learned even the letters of the alphabet. At this -age one of the farm-servants taught him to read, greatly to the -dissatisfaction of his father, who feared that such studies would -withdraw him from his work. Soon afterwards, a relative who -was a notary, gave him a few lessons in Latin; and, under the -direction of the same relative, he learned the rudiments of -Greek, Hebrew, and other languages. During all this time, -he continued his daily occupation as a farm-labourer, and had -no time for his studies but what he was able to steal from the -hours allotted for sleep and for meals; the latter of which he -snatched in the most hurried manner, and always with an open<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> -book by his side. In this strange way, amid the toils of -the field and of the farm-yard, Schmid is said to have acquired a -store of knowledge the details of which border upon the -marvelous, one of his recorded performances being a translation -of the Lord’s Prayer into fifty-one languages!<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> - -<p>One of the scholars engaged in the compilation of Walton’s -Polyglot, Andrew Müller, has left a reputation less marvellous, -but more solid. He was born about 1630, at Greiffenhagen -in Pomerania. Müller, like Crichton, was a precocious genius. -At eighteen he wrote verses freely in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. -On the completion of his studies, he became pastor of -Königsberg on the Warta; but the duties of that charge soon -became distasteful to him, and, after a short trial, he resolved, -at the invitation of Castell, to settle in England, and devote -himself to literature. He arrived just as Brian Walton was -making arrangements for the publication of his celebrated -Polyglot Bible, and at once entered earnestly into the scheme. -He took up his residence in the house of John Castell in the -Strand, where, for ten years, he applied himself unremittingly -to study. It is told of him that, in the ardour of study or -the indifference of scholastic seclusion, he would not raise his -head from his books to look out of the window, on occasion -of Charles II.’s triumphal progress at the Restoration! -Having received from Bishop Wilkins some information on -the subject of Chinese, he conceived a most enthusiastic passion -for that language. He obtained some types at Antwerp, and, -through the instructions of the celebrated Jesuit, Father Kircher, -and other members of the society, he was perhaps the -first European scholar who, without actually visiting China, -acquired a mastery of its language; as he is certainly one of -the first who deserted the track of the old philologers, and -attempted the comparative study of languages on principles -approaching to those which modern science has made familiar. -Soon after the completion of Walton’s Polyglot Müller returned -to Germany. He was named successively Pastor of Bernau -and Provost of Berlin in 1667, but resigned both livings in -1685, and lived thenceforth in retirement at Stettin. He died -in 1694. Although a most laborious man and a voluminous -writer, Müller’s views were visionary and unpractical. He -professed to have devised a plan of teaching, so complete, -that, by adopting it, a perfect knowledge of Chinese could be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> -acquired in half a year, and so simple, that it could be applied -to the instruction of persons of the most ordinary capacity. -Haller states that he spoke no less than twenty languages.</p> - -<p>A Burgomaster-linguist is a more singular literary phenomenon. -We are so little accustomed to connect that title with -any thing above the plodding details of the commerce with -which it is inseparably associated, that the name of Nicholas -Witzen, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, deserves to be specially -commemorated, as an exception to an unliterary class. It was -in the pursuit of his vocation as a merchant that Witzen -acquired the chief part of the languages with which he was -acquainted. He made repeated expeditions to Russia between -the years 1666 and 1677, in several of which he penetrated -far into the interior of the country, and had opportunities of -associating with many of the motley races of that vast empire; -Slavonians, Tartars, Cossacks, Samoiedes, and the various -Siberian tribes; as well as with natives of Eastern kingdoms -not subject to Russia.<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> Besides inquiries into the geography -and natural history of those countries which lie upon the -north-eastern frontier of Europe and the contiguous provinces -of Asia, Witzen used every effort to glean information regarding -their languages. He obtained, in most of these languages, -not only versions of the Lord’s Prayer, but also vocabularies -comprising a considerable number of words; both of which he -supplied to his friend and correspondent, Leibnitz, for publication -in his <i>Collectanea Etymologica</i>.<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> How far Witzen himself -was acquainted with these languages it is difficult to determine; -but he is at least entitled to notice as the first collector of -materials for this particular branch of the study.</p> - -<p>David Wilkins, Chamberlayne’s fellow-labourer in the compilation -of the Collection of Pater Nosters referred to in a -former page, may also deserve a passing notice. The place of -his birth, which occurred about 1685, is a matter of some -uncertainty. Adelung<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> thinks he was a native of Dantzig; by -others he is believed to have been a native of Holland. The -best part of his life, however, was spent in England; where, at -Cambridge, he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity, in -1717. He was afterwards appointed Librarian of Lambeth<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> -and Archdeacon of Suffolk. His qualifications as Polyglot -editor, at the time when he undertook to assist Chamberlayne, -appear to have consisted rather in patient industry and general -scholarship, than in any extraordinary familiarity with languages; -though he afterwards obtained considerable reputation, especially -by an edition of the New Testament in Coptic, in 1716.</p> - -<p>With the illustrious name of Leibnitz we commence a new -era in the science of languages. This extraordinary man, who -united in himself all the most varied, and it might seem incompatible, -excellencies of other men—a jurist and a divine, a -mathematician and a poet, a historian and a philosopher—added -to all his other prodigious attainments a most extensive -and profound knowledge of languages. It is not, however, on -the actual extent of his acquaintance with particular languages -(although this too was most remarkable), that his fame as a -scientific linguist rests. He was the first to recognize the true -nature and objects of linguistic science, and to direct its studies -to an object at once eminently practical and profoundly -philosophical. It is not alone that, deserting the trivialities -of the old etymologists, he laid down the true principles of -the great science of comparative philology, and detected its -full importance; Leibnitz may claim the further merit of having -himself almost created that science, and given it forth, a new -Minerva, in its full and perfect development. There is hardly -a principle of modern philology the germ of which may not be -discovered in his singularly pregnant and suggestive essays -and letters; and, what is far more remarkable, he has often, -with the instinctive sagacity of original genius, anticipated -sometimes by conjecture, sometimes by positive prediction, -analogies and results which the investigations of actual -explorers have since realized.<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a></p> - -<p>One of the most important practical services rendered by -Leibnitz to science, was the organization of academies and -other scientific bodies, by which the efforts of individuals -might be systematically guided to one common end, and the -results of their researches, whether in collecting facts or in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> -developing theories, might, through the collision of many -minds, be submitted to the ordeal of careful examination and -judicious discussion. It is chiefly to him that science is -indebted for the Royal Society of Berlin and the Academy -of St. Petersburg. Both of these bodies, although embracing -the whole circle of science, have proved most eminent schools -of languages; and it is a curious illustration of that profound -policy, in pursuance of which we see Russia still availing -herself of the service of genius wherever it is to be found, -that many of the ablest German linguists of the eighteenth -century were, either directly or indirectly, connected with -the latter institution.</p> - -<p>Gerard Frederic Müller is an early example. He was born, -at Herforden in Westphalia, in 1705, and was a pupil of the -celebrated Otto Mencken. Mencken, having been invited -to become a member of the new academy of St. Petersburg, -declined the honour for himself, but recommended his -scholar Müller in his stead.<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> Müller accordingly accompanied -the scientific expedition which was sent to Siberia -under the elder Gmelin, (also a German,) from 1733 to 1741. -On his return, he was appointed keeper of the Imperial -Archives, and Historiographer of Russia. Müller does -not appear to have given much attention to Oriental languages; -but he was more generally familiar with modern -languages than most of the scholars of that period.<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> - -<p>Augustus Lewis Schlötzer, another German literary adventurer -in the Russian service, and for a time secretary of -Müller, was a more generally accomplished linguist. Unlike -Müller, he was a skilful Orientalist; and he was versed, -moreover, in several of the Slavonic languages with which -Müller had neglected to make himself acquainted, before -engaging in the compilation of his great collection of Russian -Historians. For this he availed himself of the assistance -of his secretary Schlötzer. Gottlieb Bayer of Königsberg, -one of the earliest among the scholars of Germany, author -of the <i>Museum Sinicum</i>, also occupied for some years a chair -at St. Petersburg; but he is better known by his ferocious -controversial writings, than by his philological works. A much -more distinguished scholar of modern Germany, almost<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> -entirely unknown in England, is Christian William Buttner. -He was born at Wolfenbüttel in 1716, and was destined by -his father (an apothecary) for the medical profession; but, -although he gave his attention in the first instance to the -sciences preparatory to that profession, the real pursuit of -his life became philology, and especially in its relation to the -great science of ethnography. It was a saying of Cuvier’s, -that Linnæus and Buttner realised by their united studies the -title of Grotius’s celebrated work, “De Jure <i>Naturæ</i> et -<i>Gentium</i>;”—Linnæus by his pursuit of <i>Natural</i> History -assuming the first, and Buttner, by his <i>ethnological</i> studies, -appropriating the second—as the respective spheres of their -operations. In every country which Buttner visited, he -acquired not only the general language, but the most -minute peculiarities of its provincial dialects. Few literary -lives are recorded in history which present such a picture of -self-denial and privation voluntarily endured in the cause of -learning, as that of Buttner. His library and museum, accumulated -from the hoardings of his paltry income, were exceedingly -extensive and most valuable. In order to scrape -together the means for their gradual purchase, he contented -himself during the greater part of his later life with a single -meal per day, the cost of which never exceeded a silber-groschen, -or somewhat less than three half-pence!<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> It may -be inferred, however, from what has been said, that Buttner’s -attainments were mainly those of a book-man. In the scanty -notices of him which we have gleaned, we do not find that -his power of speaking foreign languages was at all what might -have been expected from the extent and variety of his book-knowledge. -But his services as a scientific philologer were -infinitely more important, as well as more permanent, than -any such ephemeral faculty. He was the first to observe and -to cultivate the true relations of the monosyllabic languages -of southern Asia, and to place them at the head of his scheme -of the Asiatic and European languages. He was the first to -conceive, or at least to carry out, the theory of the geographical -distribution of languages; and he may be looked on as the -true founder of the science of glossography. He was the first -to systematise and to trace the origin and affiliations of the -various alphabetical characters; and his researches in the -history of the palæography of the Semitic family may be said -to have exhausted the subject. Nevertheless, he has himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> -written very little; but he communicated freely to others the -fruits of his researches; and there are few of the philologers -of his time who have not confessed their obligations to him. -Michaelis, Schlötzer, Gatterer, and almost every other contemporary -German scholar of note, have freely acknowledged -both the value of his communications and the generous and -liberal spirit in which they were imparted.<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> - -<p>John David Michaelis<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> (1717-91) is so well known in -these countries by his contributions to Biblical literature<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> -that little can be necessary beyond the mention of his name. -His grammar of the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic -languages, sufficiently attest his abilities as an Orientalist; -and, as regards that particular family of languages, his -philological views are generally solid and judicious. But I -am unable to discover what were his attainments in modern -languages; and to the general science of comparative -philology he cannot be said to have rendered any important -original contribution.</p> - -<p>The Catholic Missionaries of Germany, although of course -less numerous than their brethren of Italy and the Spanish -Peninsula, have contributed their share to the common stock -of linguistic science. Many of the Jesuit Missionaries -of Central and Southern America;—for example, Fathers -Richter, Fritz, Grebmer, and Widmann—whose papers are the -foundation of Humboldt’s Essay in the <i>Mithridates</i>, were of -German origin. Father Dobritzhofer, whose interesting account -of the Abipones has been translated into English<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a>, under -Southey’s advice and superintendence, was a native of -Austria; and the learned Sanscrit scholar, Father Paulinus -de Sancto Bartholomeo, (although less known under his -German name, John Philip Werdin) was an Austrian -Carmelite, and served for above fourteen years in the Indian -missions of his order.</p> - -<p>A German philanthropist of a different class, Count Leopold -von Berchtold (1738-1809) the Howard of Germany, deserves -to be named, not merely for his devoted services to the cause<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> -of humanity throughout the world, but for his remarkable -acquirements as a linguist. He spoke fluently eight European -languages;<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> and, what is more rare, wrote and published -in the greater number of them, tracts upon the great subject -to which he dedicated his life. He died, at a very advanced -age, of the plague, and has long been honoured as a martyr -in the cause of philanthropy; but he has left no notable -work behind him.</p> - -<p>Very different the career of the great author of the <i>Mithridates</i>, -John Christopher Adelung, who lived almost exclusively -for learning. He was born in 1734, at Spantekow in -Pomerania. In 1759, he was appointed to a professorship -at Erfurt; but he exchanged it, after a few years, for a place -at Leipsic, where he continued to reside for a long series of -years. Although habitually of a gay and cheerful disposition, -and a most agreeable member of society, he was one of the most -assiduous students upon record, devoting as a rule no less than -fourteen hours a day to his literary occupations.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> His services -to his native language are still gratefully acknowledged by every -German etymologist, and his Dictionary, (although since much -improved by Voss and Campe,) has been declared as great a boon -to Germany, as the united labours of the Academy had -been able to offer to France. Adelung’s personal reputation -as a linguist was exceedingly high, but his fame with posterity -must rest on his great work, the <i>Mithridates</i>, which -I have already briefly described. The very origination of -such a work, or at least the undertaking it upon the -scale on which he has carried it out, would have made -the reputation of an ordinary man. In the touching preface -of the first volume, (the only one which Adelung -lived to see published,) he describes it as “the youngest -and probably the last child of his muse;” and confesses -that “he has nurtured, dressed, and cherished it, with all -the tenderness which it is commonly the lot of the youngest -child to enjoy.”<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> It is indeed a work of extraordinary -labour, and, although from the manner in which its materials -were supplied, necessarily incomplete and even inaccurate in its -details, a work of extraordinary ability. The first volume -alone (containing the languages of Asia, and published in 1806,) -is exclusively Adelung’s. Of the second, only a hundred and fifty -pages had been printed when the venerable author died in his -seventy-third year. These printed sheets, and the papers which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> -he had collected for the subsequent volumes, he bequeathed -to Dr. Severinus Vater, professor of theology at Königsberg, -under whose editorship, with assistance from several friends, -(and especially from the lamented William von Humboldt -and Frederic Adelung,) the second volume, which comprises -the languages of Europe with all their ramifications, appeared -in 1809. The third, on the languages of Africa, and of -America, (for which last the work is indebted to Humboldt,) -appeared, in parts, between 1812 and 1816; and a supplementary -volume, containing additions to the earlier portions -of the work, by Humboldt, Frederic Adelung, and Vater -himself, was published in 1817. It is impossible to overstate -the importance and value of this great linguistic repertory. -The arrangement of the work is strictly scientific, -according to the views then current. The geographical distribution, -the origin and history, and the general structural peculiarities -of each, not only of the great families, but of the -individual languages, and in many cases even of the local -dialects, are carefully, though briefly described. The specimen -Pater Noster in each language and dialect, is critically examined, -and its vocabulary explained. To each language, too, is prefixed -a catalogue of the chief philological or etymological works -which treat of its peculiarities; and thus abundant suggestions -are supplied for the prosecution of more minute researches -into its nature and history. And for the most part, all this -is executed with so much simplicity and clearness, with so -true a perception of the real points of difficulty in each language, -and with so almost instinctive a power of discriminating -between those peculiarities in each which require special -explanation, and those less abnormal qualities which a philosophical -linguist will easily infer from the principles of general -grammar, or from a consideration of the common characteristics -of the family to which it belongs, that one may learn as much -of the real character of a language, in a few hours, from the -few suggestive pages the <i>Mithridates</i>, as from the tedious and -complicated details of its professional grammarians.</p> - -<p>Adelung’s associate in the <i>Mithridates</i> and its continuator, -Dr. Severinus Vater, was born at Altenburg, in 1771; -he studied at Jena and Halle, in both of which universities -he afterwards held appointments as professor; at Jena, as -extraordinary Professor of Theology in 1796, and at Halle, as -Professor of Oriental Languages in 1800. Thence he was -transferred, in 1809, to Königsberg in the capacity of Professor -of Theology and Librarian; but he returned, in 1820, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> -Halle, where he continued to reside till his death, in 1826. -Although Vater was by no means a very scientific linguist,<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> -the importance of his contributions to the study of languages -cannot be too highly estimated. Besides the large share which -he had in the preparation of the <i>Mithridates</i> (the last three -volumes of which were edited by him,) he also wrote well on -the grammar of the Hebrew, Polish, Russian, and German -languages. Nevertheless, his reputation is rather that of a -scholar than of a linguist.</p> - -<p>A few years after the author of the <i>Mithridates</i> appears the -celebrated Peter Simon Pallas, to whom we are indebted for -the great “Comparative Vocabulary” already described. He -was born at Berlin in 1741, and his early studies were mainly -directed to natural philosophy, which he seems to have cultivated -in all its branches. His reputation as a naturalist -procured for him, in 1767, an invitation from Catherine II. -of Russia, to exchange a distinguished position which he had -obtained at the Hague for a professorship in the Academy of -St. Petersburg. His arrival in that capital occurred just at -the time of the departure of the celebrated scientific expedition -to Siberia for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus; -and, as their mission also embraced the geography and natural -history of Siberia, Pallas gladly accepted an invitation to -accompany them. They set out in June, 1768, and after -exploring the vast plains of European Russia, the borders of -Calmuck Tartary, and the shores of the Caspian, they crossed -the Ural Mountains, examined the celebrated mines of Catherinenberg, -proceeded to Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia, and -penetrated across the mountains to the Chinese frontier, -whence Pallas returned by the route of Astrakan and the Caucasus -to St. Petersburg. He reached that city in July, 1774, -with broken health, and hair prematurely whitened by sickness -and fatigue. He resumed his place in the Academy; and was -rewarded by the Empress with many distinctions and lucrative -employments, one of which was the charge of instructing the -young grand-dukes, Alexander and Constantine. It was -during these years that he devoted himself to the compilation -of the <i>Vocabularia Comparativa</i>, which comprises two hundred -and one languages; but, in 1795, he returned to the Crimea, -(where he had obtained an extensive gift of territory from the -Empress) for the purpose of recruiting his health and pursuing -his researches. After a residence there of fifteen years, he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> -returned to Berlin in 1810, where he died in the following -year. It will be seen, therefore, that, prodigious as were his -acquirements in that department, the study of languages was -but a subordinate pursuit of this extraordinary man. His -fame is mainly due to his researches in science. It is to him -that we owe the reduction of the astronomical observations of -the expedition of 1768; and Cuvier gives him the credit of -completely renewing the science of geology, and of almost -entirely re-constructing that of natural history. It is difficult, -nevertheless,<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> to arrive at an exact conclusion as to the share -which he personally took in the compilation of the Vocabulary; -and still more so, as to his powers as a speaker of foreign languages; -although it is clear that his habits of life as a traveller -and scientific explorer, not only facilitated, but even directly necessitated -for him, the exercise of that faculty, to a far greater degree -than can be supposed in the case of most of the older philologers.</p> - -<p>The career of Pallas bears a very remarkable resemblance to -that of a more modern scholar, also a native of Berlin, Julius -Henry Klaproth. He was the son of the celebrated chemist -of that name, and was born in 1783. Although destined by -his father to follow his own profession, a chance sight of the -collection of Chinese books in the Royal Library at Berlin, -irrevocably decided the direction of his studies. With the aid -of the imperfect dictionary of Mentzel and Pere Diaz, he succeeded -in learning without a master that most difficult language; -and, though he complied with his father’s desire, so -far as to pursue with success the preparatory studies of the -medical profession, he never formally embraced it. After a -time he gave his undivided attention to Oriental studies; and, -in 1802, established, at Dresden, the <i>Asiatisches Magazin</i>. -Like so many of his countrymen, he accepted service in Russia, -at the invitation of Count Potocki, who knew him at -Berlin; and he was a member of the half-scientific, half-political, -mission to Pekin, in 1805, under that eminent scholar -and diplomatist. He withdrew, however, from the main body -of this expedition, in order to be able to pursue his scientific -researches more unrestrainedly; and, after traversing eighteen -hundred leagues in the space of twenty months, in the course -of which he passed in review all the motley races of that inhospitable -region, Samoiedes, Finns, Tartars, Monguls, Paskirs, -Dzoungars, Tungooses, &c., he returned to St. Petersburg,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> -in 1806, with a vast collection of notes on the Chinese, -Mantchu, Mongul, and Japanese<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> languages. With a similar -object, he was soon afterwards sent by the Academy, in September, -1807, to collect information on the languages of the -Caucasus, a journey of exceeding difficulty and privation, in -which he spent nearly three years. On his return to St. -Petersburg, he obtained permission to go to Berlin for the -purpose of completing the necessary engravings for his work; -and he availed himself of this opportunity to withdraw altogether -from the Russian service, although with the forfeiture -of all his titles and honours. After a brief sojourn in Italy, -he fixed his residence in Paris. To him the <i>Société Asiatique</i> -may be said to owe its origin; and he acted, almost up to his -death in 1835, as the chief editor of its journal—the well-known -<i>Journal Asiatique</i>. In Paris, also, he published his -<i>Asia Polyglotta</i>, and “New Mithridates.” Klaproth, perhaps, -does not deserve, in any one of the languages which he cultivated, -the character of a very deep scholar; but he was acquainted -with a large number: with Chinese, Mongol, Mantchu, -and Japanese, also with Sanscrit, Armenian, Persian, and -Georgian;<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> he was of course perfectly familiar with German, -Russian, French, and probably with others of the European -languages.</p> - -<p>The eminent historical successes of Berthold George Niebuhr, -(born at Copenhagen in 1776), have so completely eclipsed -the memory of all his other great qualities, that perhaps the -reader will not be prepared to find that in the department of -languages his attainments were of the highest rank. His -father, Carsten Niebuhr, the learned Eastern traveller, had -destined him to pursue his own career; but the delicacy of -the youth’s constitution, and other circumstances, forced his -father to abandon the idea, and saved young Niebuhr for the -far more important studies to which his own tastes attracted -him. His history, both literary and political, is too recent -and too well known to require any formal notice. It will be -enough for our purpose to transcribe from his life an extremely -interesting letter from his father, which bears upon -the particular subject of the present inquiry. It is dated December, -1807, when Niebuhr was little more than thirty years<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> -of age. “My son has gone to Memel,” writes the elder -Niebuhr, “with the commissariat of the army. When he -found he should probably have to go to Riga, he began forthwith -to learn Russian. Let us just reckon how many languages -he knows already. He was only two years old when we came -to Meldorf, so that we must consider, 1st, German, as his -mother tongue. He learned at school, 2nd, Latin; 3rd, -Greek; 4th, Hebrew; and, besides in Meldorf he learned, -5th, Danish; 6th, English; 7th, French; 8th, Italian; but -only so far as to be able to read a book in these languages; -some books from a vessel wrecked on the coast induced him -to learn, 9th, Portuguese; 10th, Spanish; of Arabic he did not -know much at home, because I had lost my lexicon and could -not quickly replace it; in Kiel and Copenhagen he had opportunities -of practice in speaking and writing French, English, -and Danish; in Copenhagen he learned, 11th, Persian, of -Count Ludolph, the Austrian minister, who was born at Constantinople, -and whose father was an acquaintance of mine; -and 12th, Arabic, he taught himself; in Holland he learned, -13th, Dutch; and again, in Copenhagen, 14th, Swedish, and -a little Icelandic; at Memel, 15th, Russian; 16th, Slavonic; -17th, Polish; 18th, Bohemian; and, 19th, Illyrian. With the -addition of Low German, this makes in all twenty languages.”<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p> - -<p>As this letter does not enter into the history of Niebuhr’s -later studies, I inquired of his friend, the Chevalier Bunsen, -whether he had continued to cultivate the faculty thus early -developed. I received from him the following interesting statement:—“Niebuhr,” -he says, “ought not to be ranked among -<i>Linguists</i>, in contradistinction with <i>Philologers</i>. Language -had no special interest for him, beyond what it affords in -connection with history and literature. His proficiency in -languages was, however, very great, in consequence of his early -and constant application to history, and his <i>matchless memory</i>. -I have spoken of both in my <i>Memoir on Niebuhr</i>, in the -German and English edition of Niebuhr’s Letters and Life; -it is appended to the 2nd volume of both editions. I think -it is somewhere stated how many languages he knew at an -early age. What I know is, that besides <i>Greek</i> and <i>Latin</i>, -he learned early to read and write <i>Arabic</i>; <i>Hebrew</i> he had also -learned, but neglected afterwards; <i>Russian</i> and <i>Slavonic</i> -he learned (to read only,) in the years 1808, 1810. He wrote -well <i>English</i>, <i>French</i>, and <i>Italian</i>; and read <i>Spanish</i>, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> -<i>Portuguese</i>. <i>Danish</i> he wrote as well as his mother tongue, -<i>German</i>, and he understood <i>Swedish</i>. In short, he would -learn with the greatest ease <i>any language</i> which led him to -the knowledge of historical truth, when occupied with the -subject; but language, as such, had no charm for him.”</p> - -<p>Among the scholars who assisted Adelung and Vater in the -compilation of the <i>Mithridates</i>, by far the most distinguished -was the illustrious Charles William von Humboldt. He was -born at Potsdam, in 1767, and received his preliminary -education at Berlin. His university studies were made partly -at Göttingen, partly at Jena, where he formed the acquaintance -and friendship of Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, and, above all, -of Herder, from whose well-known tastes it is highly probable -that Humboldt’s mind received the strong philological bias -which it exhibited during his life. Unlike most of the scholars -who preceded him in this career, however, Humboldt’s life -was spent amid the bustle and intrigue of diplomatical pursuits. -He was sent to Rome as Prussian Minister in 1802, and, from -that period until 1819, he was almost uniformly employed in -this and similar public services. From his return to Berlin, -in 1819, he lived almost entirely for science, till his death, -which occurred at Tegel, near Berlin, in 1835. Humboldt -is, in truth, the author of that portion of the third volume of -the <i>Mithridates</i> which treats of the languages of the two -continents of America; and, although a great part of its -materials were derived from the labours of others—from the -memoirs, published and unpublished, of the missionaries, from -the works and MSS. of Padre Hervaz, and other similar -sources—yet no one can read any single article in the volume -without perceiving that Humboldt had made himself thoroughly -master of the subject; and that, especially in its bearings upon -the general science of philology, or the great question of the -unity of languages and its kindred ethnological problems, he -had not only exhausted all the learning of his predecessors, -but had successfully applied to it all the powers of his own -comprehensive and original genius. To the consideration, -too, of this numerous family of languages he brought a mind -stored with the knowledge of all the other great families both -of the East and of the West; and although it is not easy to -say what his success in speaking languages may have been, it -is impossible to doubt either the variety or the solidity of his -attainments both as a scientific and as a practical linguist. -But Humboldt’s place with posterity must be that of a philologer -rather than of a linguist. His Essay on the “Diversity<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> -of the Formation of Human Language, and its Influence -on the Intellectual Development of Mankind,” published -posthumously in 1836, as an Introduction to his Analysis of -the Kawi Language, is a work of extraordinary learning and -research, as well as of profound and original thought; analysing -all the successive varieties of grammatical structure which -characterize the several classes of language in their various -stages of structural development, from the naked simplicity of -Chinese up to the minute and elaborate inflexional variety of -the Sanscritic family. M. Bunsen describes this wonderful -work as “the <i>Calculus Sublimis</i> of linguistic theory,” and -declares that “it places William von Humboldt’s name by -the side of that of Leibnitz in universal comparative ethnological -philology.”<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p> - -<p>The school of Humboldt in Germany has supplied a long -series of distinguished names to philological literature, beginning -with Frederic von Schlegel, (whose Essay “On the -Language and Literature of the Hindoos, 1808,” opened an -entirely new view of the science of comparative philology), -and continued, through Schlegel’s brother Augustus, Rask, -Bopp, Grimm, Lepsius, Pott, Pfizmaier, Hammer-Purgstall -(the so-called “Lily of Ten Tongues”), Sauerwein, Diez, -Boehtlingk, and the lamented Castrén, down to Bunsen, and -his learned fellow-labourers, Max Müller, Paul Boetticher, -Aufrecht, and others.<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> For most of those, as for Schlegel, -the Sanscrit family of languages has been the great centre of -exploration, or at least the chief standard of comparison; and -Bopp, in his wonderful work, the “Comparative Grammar of -the Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, old Slavonic, -Gothic, and German Languages,”<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> has almost exhausted this -part of the inquiry. Others (still, however, with the same -general view) have devoted themselves to other families, as -Lepsius to the Egyptian, Rask to the Scythian, Boehtlingk -to the Tartar,<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> Grimm to the Teutonic, Diez to the Romanic,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> -and Castrén to the Finnic. Others, in fine, as Bunsen in his -most comprehensive work, “Outlines of the Philosophy of -Universal History applied to Language,” (the third volume of -his “Christianity and Mankind”) have digested the entire -subject, and applied the researches of all to the solution of the -great problem of the science. Some of those whom I have -named rather resembled the ancient heroes of romance and -adventure, than the common race of quiet everyday scholars. -The journeys of Rask, Klaproth, and Lepsius, were not only -full of danger, but often attended with exceeding privation; -and Alexander Castrén of Helsingfors was literally a martyr of -the science. This enthusiastic student,<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> although a man of -extremely delicate constitution, “left his study, travelled for -years alone in his sledge through the snowy deserts of Siberia; -coasted along the borders of the Polar Sea; lived for whole -winters in caves of ice, or in the smoky huts of greasy -Samoiedes; then braved the sand-clouds of Mongolia; passed -the Baikal; and returned from the frontiers of China to his -duties as Professor at Helsingfors, to die after he had given to -the world but a few specimens of his treasures.”<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> - -<p>Rask and M. Bunsen, even as linguists, deserve to be more -specially commemorated.</p> - -<p>The former, who was born in 1787 at Brennekilde, in the -island of Funen, traversed, in the course of the adventurous -journey already alluded to, the Eastern provinces of Russia, -Persia, India, Malacca, and the island of Ceylon, and penetrated -into the interior of Africa. In all the countries which he -visited he made himself acquainted with the various languages -which prevailed; so that besides the many languages of his -native Teutonic family, those of the Scandinavian, Finnic, and -Sclavonic stock, the principal cultivated European languages, -and the learned languages (including those of the Bible), he -was also familiar with Sanscrit in all its branches; and is -justly described as the first who opened the way to “a real<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> -grammatical knowledge of Zend.”<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> M. Bunsen’s great work -exhibits a knowledge of the structural analysis of a prodigious -number of languages, from almost every family. As a master -of the learned languages, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, and (though -he has cultivated these less), Arabic and Persian, he has few -superiors. He speaks and writes with equal facility Latin, -German, English, French, and Italian, all with singular elegance -and purify; he speaks besides Dutch and Danish; he reads -Swedish, Icelandic, and the other old German languages, -Spanish, Portuguese, and Romaic; and he has also studied many -of the less known languages, as Chinese, Basque, Finnic, -and Welsh, together with several of the African and North -American languages, but chiefly with a view to their grammatical -structure, and without any idea of learning to read -them.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, with all the linguistic learning which they -undoubtedly possess, neither Humboldt nor the other members -of his distinguished school fall properly within the scope of -this Memoir. With all of them, even those who were -themselves accomplished linguists, the knowledge of languages, -(and especially of their vocabularies), is a subordinate -object. They have never proposed the study to themselves, -for its own sake, but only as an instrument of philosophical -inquiry. It might almost be said, indeed, that by the reaction -which this school has created against the old system of etymological, -and in favour of the structural, comparison of languages, -a positive discouragement has been given to the exact or -extensive study of their vocabularies. Philologers, as a class, -have a decided disposition to look down upon, and even to -depreciate, the pursuit of linguists. With the former, the -knowledge of the words of a language is a very minor consideration -in comparison with its inflexions, and still more its -laws of transposition (Lautverschiebung); Professor Schott of -Berlin plainly avows that “a limited knowledge of languages -is sufficient for settling the general questions as to their -common origin;”<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> and beyond a catalogue of a certain number -of words for the purpose of a comparative vocabulary, there is -a manifest tendency on the part of many, to regard all further -concern about the words of a language as old-fashioned -and puerile. It it some consolation to the admirers of the -old school to know, that, from time to time, learned philologers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> -have been roughly taken to task for the presumption -with which they have theorized about languages of whose -vocabulary they are ignorant; and it is difficult not to regard -the unsparing and often very amusing exposures of Professor -Schott’s blunders which occur in the long controversy that he -has had with Boehtlingk, Mr. Caldwell’s recent strictures<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> -upon the Indian learning of Professor Max Müller, or -Stanislaus Julien’s still fiercer onslaught on M. Panthier, in -the <i>Journal Asiatique</i>,<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> as a sort of retributive offering to the -offended Genius of neglected Etymology.</p> - -<p class="tb">I shall not delay upon the Biblical linguists of Germany -as Hug, Jahn, Schott, Windischmann, Vullers, &c., among -Catholics, or the rival schools of Rosenmüller, Tholuck, -Ewald, Gesenius, Fürst, Beer, De Lagarde, &c. Extensive<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> as is -the range of the attainments of these distinguished men in the -languages of the Bible, and their literature, this accomplishment -has now become so universal among German Biblical -scholars, that it has almost ceased to be regarded as a title to -distinction. Its very masters are lost in the crowd of -eminent men who have grown up on all sides around him.</p> - -<p class="tb">Among the scholars of modern Hungary there are a few -names which deserve to be mentioned. Sajnovitz’s work on -the common origin of the Magyar and Lapp languages, though -written in 1770, long before the science of Comparative -Philology had been reduced to its present form, has obtained -the praise of much learning and ingenuity. Gyarmathi, who -wrote somewhat later on the affinity of the Magyar and -Finnic languages (1799) is admitted by M. Bunsen<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> -to “deserve a very high rank among the founders of that -science.” But neither of these authors can be considered as a -linguist. Father Dubrowsky, of whom I shall speak elsewhere, -although born in Hungary, cannot properly be considered -as a Hungarian. Kazinczy, Kisfaludy, and their followers, -have confined themselves almost entirely to the cultivation -of their own native language, or at least to the ethnological -affinities which it involves.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span></p> - -<p>I have only discovered one linguist of modern Hungary -whom I can consider entitled to a special notice, but the -singular and almost mysterious interest which attaches to his -name may in some measure compensate for the comparative -solitude in which it is found.</p> - -<p>I allude to the celebrated Magyar pilgrim and philologer, -Csoma de Körös. His name is written in his own language, -Körösi Csoma Sandor; but in the works which he has -published (all of which are in English), it is given in the -above form. He was born of a poor, but noble family, about -1790, at Körös, in Transylvania; and, received a gratuitous -education at the College of Nagy-Enyed. The leading idea -which engrossed this enthusiastic scholar during life, was the -discovery of the original of the Magyar race; in search of -which (after preparing himself for about five years, at Göttingen, -by the study of medicine and of the Oriental languages,) -he set out in 1820, on a pilgrimage to the East, “lightly clad, -with a little stick in his hand, as if meditating a country walk, -and with but a hundred florins, (about £10), in his pocket.” -The only report of his progress which was received for years -afterwards, informed his friends that he had crossed the Balkan, -visited Constantinople, Alexandria, and the Arabic libraries -at Cairo; and, after traversing Egypt and Syria, had -arrived at Teheran. Here, on hearing a few words of the -Tibetan language, he was struck by their resemblance to -Magyar; and, in the hope of thus resolving his cherished -problem, he crossed Little Bucharia to the desert of Gobi; -traversed many of the valleys of the Himalaya; and finally -buried himself for four years (1827-1830), in the Buddhist -Monastery of Kanam, deeply engaged in the study of Tibetan; -four months of which time he spent in a room nine feet square, -(without once quitting it), and in a temperature below zero! -He quickly discovered his mistake as to the affinity of Tibetan -with Magyar; but he pursued his Tibetan studies in the -hope of obtaining in the sacred books of Tibet some light -upon the origin of his nation; and before his arrival at Calcutta, -in 1830, he had written down no less than 40,000 -words in that language. He had hardly reached Calcutta -when he was struck down by the mortifying discovery that the -Tibetan books to which he had devoted so many precious years -were but translations from the Sanscrit! From 1830 he resided -for several years chiefly at Calcutta, engaged in the study -of Sanscrit and other languages, and employed in various literary -services by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. He published in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> -1834 a Tibetan and English Dictionary, and contributed many -interesting papers to the Asiatic Journal, and the Journal of -the Bengal Asiatic Society. In 1842, he set out afresh -upon the great pilgrimage which he had made the object of -his life; and, having reached Dharjeeling on his way to Sikam -in Tibet, he was seized by a sudden illness, which, as he refused -to take medicine, rapidly carried him off. This strange, -though highly gifted man, had studied in the course of his -adventurous life, seventeen or eighteen languages, in several of -which he was a proficient.<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> - -<p>The career of this enthusiastic Magyar resembles in many -respects that of Castrén, the Danish philologer; and in nothing -more than in the devotedness with which each of them applied -himself to the investigation of the origin of his native language -and to the discovery of the ethnological affinities of his race.</p> - -<h3>§ VI. LINGUISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.</h3> - -<p>The names with which the catalogue of Italian and that of -Spanish linguists open, find a worthy companion in the first -name among the linguists of Britain.</p> - -<p class="tb">With others the study of languages, or of kindred sciences, -formed almost the business of life. But it was not so with -the wonder of his own and of all succeeding generations—the -“Admirable Crichton”; who, notwithstanding the -universality of his reputation, became almost equally eminent -in each particular study, as any of those who devoted all their -powers to that single pursuit.</p> - -<p>James Crichton was born in 1561, in Scotland. The precise -place of his birth is uncertain, but he was the son of Robert -Crichton of Eliock, Lord Advocate of James VI. He was -educated at St. Andrew’s. The chief theatres of his attainments, -however, were France and Italy. There is not an accomplishment -which he did not possess in its greatest perfection—from -the most abstruse departments of scholarship, philosophy, and -divinity, down to the mere physical gifts and graces of the -musician, the athlete, the swordsman, and the cavalier. His -memory was a prodigy both of quickness and of tenacity. He -could repeat verbatim, after a single hearing, the longest and -most involved discourse.<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> Many of the details which are told<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> -of him are doubtless exaggerated and perhaps legendary; but -Mr. Patrick Frazer Tytler<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> has shown that the substance of -his history, prodigious as it seems, is perfectly reliable. As -regards the particular subject of our present inquiry, one account -states that, when he was but sixteen years old, he spoke ten -languages. Another informs us that, at the age of twenty, -the number of languages of which he was master exactly equalled -the number of his years. But the most tangible data which -we possess are drawn from his celebrated thesis in the University -of Paris, in which he undertook to dispute in any of twelve -languages—Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Spanish, -Italian, French, English, German, Flemish, and Slavonic. I -am inclined to believe that Crichton’s acquirements extended -at least so far as this. It might seem that a vague challenge -to dispute in any one of a number of foreign tongues was an -empty and unsubstantial boast, and a mere exhibition of vanity, -perfectly safe from the danger of exposure. But it is clear -that Crichton’s challenge was not so unpractical as this. He -not only specified the languages of his challenge, but there is -hardly one of those that he selected which was not represented in -the University of Paris at the time, not only sufficiently to -test the proficiency of the daring disputant, but to secure his -ignominious exposure, if there were grounds to suspect him of -charlatanism or imposture. Unhappily, however, the promise -of a youth so brilliant was cut short by an early death, in 1583, -at the age of twenty-two years. Nor did Crichton leave behind -him any work by which posterity might test the reality of his -acquirements, except a few Latin verses printed by his friend, -Aldus Manutius, on whose generous patronage, with all his -accomplishments, he had been dependent for the means of -subsistence during one of the most brilliant periods of his -career.</p> - -<p>A few years Crichton’s senior in point of time, although, -from the precociousness of Crichton’s genius, his junior in -reputation, was Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester. -He was born in London in 1555, and, after a distinguished -career in the university, rose, through a long course of ecclesiastical -preferments, to the see of Winchester. Beyond the -general praises of his scholarship in which all his biographers -indulge, few particulars are preserved respecting his attainments. -Among his contemporaries he was regarded as a prodigy.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> -Wanley says<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> that “some thought he might almost have served -as interpreter-general at the confusion of tongues;” and even -the more prosaic Chalmers attributes to him a profound -knowledge of the “chief Oriental tongues, Greek, Latin, and -many modern languages.”<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a></p> - -<p>John Gregory, who was born at Agmondesham in Buckinghamshire, -in the year 1607, would probably have far surpassed -Andrews as a linguist, had he not been cut off prematurely -before he had completed his thirtieth year. He was a youth -of unexampled industry and perseverance, devoting sixteen -hours of the twenty-four to his favourite studies. Even at the -early age at which he died he had mastered not only the Oriental -and classical languages, but also French, Italian, and Spanish, -and, what was far more remarkable in his day, his ancestral -Anglo-Saxon. But he died in the very blossom of his promise, -in 1646.</p> - -<p>These, however, must be regarded as exceptional cases. The -study of languages, it must be confessed, occupied at this -period but little of public attention in England. It holds a -very subordinate place in the great scheme of Bacon’s -“Advancement of Learning.” In the model Republic of his -“New Atlantis” only four languages appear, “ancient Hebrew, -ancient Greek, good Latin of the School, and Spanish.”<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> -Gregory’s contemporaries, the brothers John and Thomas -Greaves, though both distinguished Persian and Arabic -scholars, never made a name in other languages. Notwithstanding -the praise which Clarendon bestows on Selden’s “stupendous -learning in all kinds and <i>in all languages</i>,”<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> it is certain -that the range of his languages was very limited. So, -also, what Hallam says of Hugh Broughton as a man “deep -in Jewish erudition,”<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> must be understood rather of the -literature than of the languages of the East; and although -Hugh Broughton’s namesake, Richard, (one of the missionary -priests in England in the beginning of the seventeenth century, -and an antiquarian of considerable merit, mentioned by Dodd<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a>) -was a learned Hebraist, there is no evidence of his having -gone farther in these studies.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span></p> - -<p>Indeed, strange as it may at first sight appear, the first -epoch in English history really prolific in eminent scholars is -the stormy period of the great Civil War. It is not a little -remarkable that the most creditable fruit of English scholarship, -Walton’s Polyglot Bible, was matured, if not brought to -light, under the Republic.</p> - -<p>The men who were engaged in this work, however, were, -for the most part, merely book-scholars. Edmund Castell, -born at Halley, in Cambridgeshire, in 1606, author of the Heptaglot -Lexicon, which formed the companion or supplement of -Walton’s Bible, is admitted to have been one of the most profound -Orientalists of his day. This Lexicon comprises seven -Oriental languages, Hebrew, Chaldee, Samaritan, Syriac, Ethiopic, -Arabic, and Persian; and, if we add to these the classical -languages, we shall find Castell’s attainments to have been -little inferior to those of any linguist before his time; even -without reckoning whatever modern languages he may be -supposed to have known. Castell, nevertheless, is one of the -most painful examples of neglected scholarship in all literary -history. Disraeli truly says that he more than devoted his life -to his Lexicon Heptaglotton.<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> His own Appeal to Charles the -Second, if less noble and dignified than Johnson’s celebrated -preface to the Dictionary, is yet one of the most touching documents -on record. He laments the “seventeen years during -which he devoted sixteen or eighteen hours a day to his labour. -He declares that he had expended his whole inheritance -(above twelve thousand pounds), upon the work; and that he -spent his health and eyesight as well as his fortune, upon a -thankless task.” The copies of his Lexicon remained unsold -upon his hands; and, out of the whole five hundred copies -which he left at his death, hardly one complete copy escaped -destruction by damp and vermin. “The whole load of learned -rags sold for seven pounds!”<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> - -<p>I cannot find that either Castell or his friend (though by no -means his equal as a linguist), Brian Walton possessed any -remarkable faculty in speaking even the languages with -which they were most familiar.</p> - -<p>Another of Walton’s associates in the compilation of the -Polyglot, as well as in other learned undertakings, Edward -Pocock (born at Oxford in 1604,) appears to have given more -attention to the accomplishment of speaking foreign languages.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> -In addition to Latin, Greek, French, and probably Italian, he -was well versed in Hebrew, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic. -During a residence of six years at Aleppo, as British chaplain, -(1600-6), he had the advantage of receiving instructions from -a native doctor, in the language and literature of Arabia; and -he engaged an Arab servant for the sole purpose of enjoying -the opportunity of speaking the language.<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> In a second journey -to the East, undertaken a few years later, under the patronage -of Laud, he extended his acquaintance with these languages. -Two of Pocock’s sons, Edward and Thomas, attained a -certain eminence in the same pursuit; but neither of them can -be said to have approached the fame of their father.</p> - -<p>The mention of Arabian literature suggests the distinguished -names of Simon Ockley, the earliest English historian of Mahometanism, -and of George Sale, the first English translator -of its sacred book. Both were in their time Orientalists of -high character; but both of them appear to have applied -chiefly to Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, rather than to the -Biblical languages. Both, too, may be cited among the examples -of unsuccessful scholarship. It was in a debtor’s prison -at Cambridge that Ockley found leisure for the completion -of his great History of the Saracens; and it is told of the -learned translator of the Koran, that too often, when he quitted -his studies, he wanted a change of linen, and frequently -wandered in the streets in search of some compassionate friend -who might supply him with the meal of the day!<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p> - -<p>Another scholar of high repute at the same period, is Samuel -Clarke. He was born at Brackley, in Northamptonshire, in -1623, and was a student at Merton College, Oxford, when -the parliamentary commission undertook the reform of the -University. The general report of the period represents him -as a very profound and accomplished linguist; but the only -direct evidence which remains of the extent of his powers, is -the fact that he assisted Walton in the preparation of his Polyglot -Bible, and also Castell in the composition of his Heptaglot -Lexicon. He died in 1669.</p> - -<p>Early in the same century was born John Wilkins, another -linguist of some pretensions. Perhaps, however, he is better -known by the efforts which he made to recommend that ideal -project for a Universal Language which has occupied the thoughts -of so many learned enthusiasts since his time, than by his own -positive and practical attainments; although he published a Collection<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> -of Pater Nosters which possesses no inconsiderable philological -merit. He was born in 1614, at Fawsley, in Northamptonshire; -and at the early age of thirteen, he was admitted a -scholar of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took his degree -in 1634. In the contest between the Crown and the -Parliament, Wilkins became a warm partisan of the latter. -He was named Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, by the -parliamentary commission in 1648. Some years later, in 1656, -he married Robina, sister of the Protector, and widow of -Peter French; the Protector having granted him a dispensation -from the statute which requires celibacy, as one of the -conditions of the tenure of his Wardenship. In 1659, Richard -Cromwell promoted him to the Mastership of Trinity College, -Cambridge; from which, however, he was dispossessed at the -Restoration. But his reputation for scholarship, seemingly -through the influence of Buckingham,<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> outweighed his political -demerits; and he was named successively Dean of Ripon -and Bishop of Chester, in which latter dignity he died in -1670.</p> - -<p>The unhappy deistical writer, John Toland, born in the -County Donegal, in Ireland, in 1669, was one of the most -skilful linguists of his day. His birth was probably illegitimate, -and he was baptized by the strange name of James Junius,<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> -which the ridicule of his schoolfellows caused him to -change for that by which he is now known. During his early -youth, he was a member of the Catholic religion; but his daring<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> -and sceptical mind early threw off the salutary restraints which -that creed imposes, although, like Gibbon, only to abandon -Christianity itself in abandoning Catholicity. His eventful -and erratic career does not fall within the scope of this notice, -and I will only mention that in the singular epitaph, which he -composed for his own tomb, he speaks of himself as “<i>linguarum -plus decem sciens</i>.” In several of these ten languages, as -he states in his memorial to the Earl of Oxford,<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> he spoke and -wrote with as much fluency as in English. Toland died at -Putney, in 1722.</p> - -<p>From this period the same great blank occurs in the history -of English scholarship, which we have observed in almost all -the contemporary literatures of Europe. Still a few names -may be gleaned from the general obscurity.<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> It is true that -what many persons may deem the most notable publication of -the time, Chamberlayne’s Collection of Pater Nosters, (1715), -was rather a literary curiosity than a work of genuine scholarship. -But there are other higher, though less known, names.</p> - -<p>The once notorious “Orator Henley,” whom the Dunciad -has immortalized as the</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Preacher at once, and Zany of his age,”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">was unquestionably a linguist of great acquirements. His -“Complete Linguist,” consisting of grammars of ten languages, -was published when he was but twenty-five years old; -and throughout his entire career, eccentric as it was, he appears -to have persevered in the same studies. John Henley was born -at Melton Mowbray, in 1692, and graduated in the University -of Cambridge. He took orders, and obtained some notoriety -as a preacher; but his great theatre of display was his so-called -“Oratory,” where he delivered orations or lectures on a -variety of topics, religious, political, humorous, and even profane. -It was on one of these occasions that he drew together -a large congregation of shoemakers, by the promise of showing -them “the best, newest, and most expeditious way of making -shoes,” which he proceeded to illustrate by holding out a boot -and <i>cutting off the leg part</i>! Henley died in 1756.<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span></p> - -<p>What Henley was in the learned languages, the distinguished -statesman Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl of Granville, was in -the modern. With all his brilliant qualities as a debater, and -all his great capacity for public affairs, Carteret combined the -learning and the accomplishments of a finished scholar. Swift -said of him that “he carried away from Oxford more Greek, -Latin, and philosophy, than became a person of his rank.” He -spoke and wrote French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, -German, and even Swedish; and one of the first causes of the -jealousy with which Walpole regarded him, was the volubility -with which he was able to hold converse in German with -their common master, George the First.</p> - -<p>But Henley and Carteret stand almost alone among the -English scholars of the early half of the seventeenth century; -and the first steady impulse which the study of languages -received in England, may be chiefly traced to the attractions of -the honourable and emolumentary service of the East India Company. -What the diplomatic ambition of France in the Levant -effected among the scholars of that country, the commercial -enterprise of the merchant princess of England achieved in -her Indian territory; and the splendid rewards held out to -practical Oriental scholarship, gave an impulse to the study of -Eastern languages on a more liberal and comprehensive -scale.<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> It is in great part to this, that we are indebted for -the splendid successes of Sir William Jones, of Marsden, of -Colebrooke, of Craufurd, of Lumsden, of Leyden, and still -more recently, of Colonel Vans Kennedy.</p> - -<p>The first of these, William Jones, was the son of a school-master, -and was born in London, in 1741. He was educated -at Harrow, where he exhibited an early taste for languages,<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> -and was especially distinguished in Greek and Latin metrical -composition. In 1764, he entered the University of Oxford, -where he learned Arabic from a Syrian whose acquaintance he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> -chanced to form. To this he soon after added Persian; and -in 1770, he performed the very unusual feat of translating the -history of Nadir Shah into French. In the following year -he published his Persian Grammar, which took the general -public as much by surprise, by the beauty and eloquence of -the poetical translations which accompanied the copious -examples that illustrated it, as it excited the admiration of -scholars by the simplicity and practical good sense of its -technical details. He soon afterwards applied himself to the -language and literature of China; which, however, he never -made a profound study, as about this time (1770), feeling -the precariousness of a purely literary profession, he took -steps to have himself called to the English bar, and for the -following twelve years devoted himself with all his characteristic -energy, and with marked success, to its laborious and -engrossing duties. During the same period he endeavoured -unsuccessfully to obtain a seat in Parliament; but in 1783, -he accepted the appointment of Judge in the supreme court -at Calcutta, and repaired to India in the same year. His -attention to the duties of his office, is said to have been most -earnest and exemplary. But, in the intervals of duty, he -travelled over a great part of India; mixed eagerly in native -society; and had acquired a familiarity with the history, -antiquities, religions, science, and laws of India, such as had -never before been attained by any European scholar, when, -unhappily for the science to which he was so thoroughly -devoted, he was cut off prematurely in the year 1794, at -the early age of forty-seven. During a life thus laborious, -and in great part spent in pursuits utterly uncongenial with -linguistic studies, Sir William Jones had nevertheless amassed -a store of languages which had seldom, perhaps never, been -equalled before his time. Fortunately too, unlike most of the -linguists whom we have been enumerating, he himself left an -autograph record of these studies, which Lord Teignmouth has -preserved in his interesting Biography. In this paper, he -describes the total number of languages with which he was -in any degree acquainted to have been twenty-eight; but he -further distributes these into classes according to the degree -of his familiarity with each. From this curious memorandum, -it appears that he had studied critically <i>eight</i> languages, viz:—English, -Latin, French, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Persian, -Sanscrit; <i>eight</i> others he had studied less perfectly, but all -were intelligible to him with the aid of a Dictionary, viz:—Spanish, -Portuguese, German, Runick, Hebrew, Bengali,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> -Hindi, Turkish; <i>twelve</i> others, in fine, he had studied least -perfectly; but he considered all these attainable; namely -Tibetan, Pali, Palavi, Deri, Russian, Syriac, Ethiopic, Coptic, -Welsh, Swedish, Dutch, and Chinese.<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a></p> - -<p>Now, as Lord Teignmouth<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> describes him as perfectly familiar -with Spanish, Portuguese, and German, three languages -which he has himself placed on the list of languages, -“less critically studied, but intelligible with the aid of a dictionary,” -it may fairly be believed that this estimate is, to say -the least, a sufficiently modest one; and that his acquaintance -even with the languages of the third class was by no means -superficial, we may infer from another memorandum preserved -by Lord Teignmouth from which we find that he had -studied the grammars of two at least of the number, namely: -Russian and Welsh. His biographer, however, unfortunately -enters into no details as to his power of speaking languages; -but he is said by the writer of the notice in the <i>Biographie -Universelle</i> to have spoken eight languages as perfectly as his -native English.</p> - -<p>In contrast with successes so brilliant as these, the comparatively -humble career of the other British Orientalists named in -conjunction with Sir William Jones, will appear tame and -uninteresting. William Marsden was born in Dublin, 1754; -and, after having completed the ordinary classical studies, was -sent out to Bencoolen in the island of Sumatra, at the early -age of sixteen. The extraordinary facility which he exhibited -for acquiring the Malay languages led to his rapid advancement. -He was named first under-secretary, and afterwards -chief secretary of the Island; and, before his return in 1779, -he had accumulated the materials for the exceedingly valuable -work on Sumatra which he published in 1782. Marsden held -several important appointments after his return,<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> and he -employed every interval of his official duties in literary pursuits. -He was a thorough master of Sanscrit, and all its kindred -languages; but he must be described, nevertheless, rather as -a book-learned, than a practical linguist. His Essay on the -Polynesian or East Insular languages, tracing their connexion -with each other, and their common relations with Sanscrit, is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> -still a standard source of information on this interesting -ethnological question.</p> - -<p>Henry Thomas Colebrooke,<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> well known by his numerous -contributions to Oriental literature, especially in the Asiatic -Journal, was also an official of the East India Company, whose -employment he entered, while still very young, as a civil servant. -Colebrooke was well versed, not only in the Indian languages, -but also in those of the Hebrew and cognate races; and his -early education in France gave him a greater familiarity with -French and other modern tongues than is often found to -accompany the more profound linguistic studies.</p> - -<p>Matthew Lumsden was born in Aberdeenshire in 1777, and -went as a mere boy to India, where his brother had an appointment -in the service of the Company. Lumsden’s knowledge -of Hindostani and of Persian led to his being employed first -as translator in the criminal court, and afterwards as professor -in Fortwilliam College, where he remained till 1820. His -skill in Persian and Arabic is attested by several publications -upon both, chiefly elementary; but he can hardly be classed -with the higher Orientalists, much less with linguists of more -universal pretensions.</p> - -<p>Lord Cockburn, in the lively section of his amusing -“Memorials of his Own Time” which he devotes to the -singular and unsteady career of John Leyden, says that -M’Intosh, to whom “his wild friend” was clearly a source of great -amusement, used to laugh at the affected modesty with which -Leyden “professed to know <i>but seventy</i> languages.”<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> It is -plain that M’Intosh considered this an extreme exaggeration; -but there can be no doubt, nevertheless, that Leyden was a -very extraordinary linguist. This strange man, whose name -will perhaps be remembered by the frequent allusions to it in -the early correspondence of Sir Walter Scott, was born of a -very humble family at Denholm in 1775. Though his education -was of the very lowest order, yet Scott relates that -“before he had attained his nineteenth year, he confounded the -doctors of Edinburgh by the portentous mass of his acquisitions -in almost every department of knowledge.”<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> Having failed -very signally in the clerical profession, to which he was brought -up by his parents, he embraced that of medicine; and, after -undergoing a more than ordinary share of the privations and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> -vicissitudes of literary life such as it then existed, he went to -Madras in 1803 in the capacity of assistant surgeon in the -East India Company’s service. The adoption of this career -decided the course of his after studies. He had learned, while -yet a mere youth, preparing for the university, Hebrew and -Arabic. He afterwards extended his researches into all the -chief languages of the East, Sanscrit, Hindustani, and many -other minor varieties of the Indian tongues. He was also -thorough master of Persian. His career as Professor of -Hindustani at Calcutta was more successful than that of any -European scholar since Sir William Jones. Having also -studied the Malay language, from which he made several -translations, he was induced to accompany Lord Minto on the -Java expedition in 1811, where he was cut off after -a short illness in the same year, too soon, unhappily, to allow -of his turning to full account the important materials which -he had collected for the comparative study of the Indo-Chinese -languages.</p> - -<p>The well-known evangelical commentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, -born in 1760, of very humble parentage, at Magherafelt, in -the County of Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, and for a -long course of years the most distinguished preacher of the -Methodist communion, enjoyed a high reputation among his -followers as a linguist; but his studies had been confined -almost entirely to the Biblical languages. The same may be -said of the Rev. Dr. Barrett, vice-provost of Trinity College, -Dublin, who is known to Biblical students as the editor of the -Palimpsest MS. of the Gospels, and of the celebrated Codex -Montfortianus.</p> - -<p>But there is more of curious interest in the career of a very -extraordinary individual, Richard Roberts Jones, of Aberdarvan, -in Carnarvonshire, who, if not for the extent of his attainments, -at least for the exceedingly unfavourable circumstances under -which they were acquired, deserves a place among examples of -the “pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.” A privately -printed memoir of this singular character, by Mr. Roscoe, who -took much interest in him, and exerted himself warmly in his -behalf, contains several most curious particulars regarding his -studies and acquirements, as well as his personal habits and -appearance. Mr. Roscoe first met him in 1806, and described -him to Dr. Parr as “a poor Welsh fisher-lad, as ragged as -a colt, and as uncouth as any being that has a semblance of -humanity. But beneath such an exterior,” he adds, “is a -mind cultivated, not only beyond all reasonable expectation,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> -but beyond all probable conception. In his fishing boat on -the coast of Wales, at an age little more than twenty, he has -acquired Greek, Hebrew, and Latin; has read the Iliad, -Hesiod, Theocritus, &c.; studied the refinements of Greek -pronunciation; and examined the connection of that language -with Hebrew.” An attempt was made to raise him to a position -more befitting his acquirements. But his habits were of -the rudest and most uncleanly. “He loved to lie on his back -in the bottom of a ditch. His uncouth appearance, solitary -habits, and perhaps weak intellect, made him an object of -ridicule and persecution to the children of the district; and, -he often <i>carried an iron pot on his head</i> to screen him from -the stones and clods which they threw at him. He wore a -large filthy wrapper, in the pockets and folds of which he -stowed his library; and his face, covered with hair, gave him -a strangely uncouth appearance; although the mild and abstracted -expression of his features took from it much of its -otherwise repulsive character.” Mr. Roscoe gives a very curious -account of an interview between Dr. Parr and this strange -genius, in 1815, in the course of which Jones “exhibited a -familiarity with French, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and -Chaldee.” He described too, for Dr. Parr, his mode of acquiring -a new language, which consisted in carefully examining -its vocabulary, ascertaining what words in it corresponded with -those of any language which he had previously learned, and -<i>having struck such words out of the vocabulary</i>, proceeding to -impress the <i>remaining</i> words upon his memory, as being the -only ones which were peculiar to the new language which he -sought to acquire. It may easily be believed that Jones’s -irreclaimably uncouth and eccentric habits defeated the -efforts made by his friends to place him in a condition more -befitting his acquirements. Clothes with which their thoughtfulness -might replace his habitual rags, in a few days were -sure to present the same filthy and dilapidated appearance. -When a bed was provided for him, he chose to sleep not <i>upon</i>, -but <i>under</i> it; and all his habits bespoke at once weakness of -mind and indisposition, or perhaps incapacity, to accommodate -himself to the ordinary usages of other men.</p> - -<p>Dr. Thomas Young, although his fame must rest chiefly -upon his brilliant philosophical discoveries, (especially in the -Theory of Light), and on his success in deciphering and systematizing -the hieroglyphical writing of the Egyptians, as exhibited -in the inscriptions of the Rosetta Stone and in the funereal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> -papyri, cannot be passed over in a history of eminent British -linguists. Young was born at Milverton in Somersetshire, -in 1773. His mind was remarkably precocious. He had read -the whole Bible twice through, besides other books, before -he was four years old. In his seventh year he learnt -Latin; and before he left school in his thirteenth year, he -added to this Greek, French, and Italian. Soon after his return -from school, he mastered Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and -Persian; and, in all those languages, as well as in his own, -his reading (of which his journals have preserved a most minute -and accurate record), was so various and so vast, as almost to -exceed belief. Having embraced the medical profession, he -passed two years in different German Universities, during -which time he not only extended his knowledge of learned -languages, but also became perfect master of German;—not to -speak of various other acquisitions, some of them of a class -which are seldom found to accompany scholastic eminence, -such as riding two horses at the same time, walking or dancing -on the tight rope, and various other feats of harlequinade! -Of his skill in the ancient Egyptian language, as well as its -more modern forms, in which he rivalled, and as his English -biographer, Dr. Peacock, seeks to show,<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> surpassed, Champollion -and Lepsius, it is unnecessary to speak: and it is highly -probable that, having learned Italian while a mere youth,<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> he -also made himself acquainted with Spanish, and perhaps -Portuguese.</p> - -<p>Dr. Pritchard, who may be regarded as the founder of the -English school of ethnography, can hardly, notwithstanding, -be strictly called a linguist. If we except the Celtic languages, -and Greek, Latin, and German, most of his learning regarding -the rest is taken at second-hand from Adelung and -others. Nevertheless, the linguistic section of his “Researches -into the Physical History of Mankind,” is a work of very great -value. M. Bunsen pronounces it “the best of its kind; infinitely -superior, as a whole, to Adelung’s <i>Mithridates</i>”;<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> and -Cardinal Wiseman, in his masterly lecture “On the Natural -History of the Human race,” not only gives Pritchard the -credit of being “almost the first who attempted to connect -ethnography with philology,” but even goes so far as to say<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> -that it will henceforth “be difficult for any one to treat of this -theme without being indebted to Dr. Pritchard for a great -portion of his materials.”<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p> - -<p>Of the school of living British linguists I shall not be -expected to speak at much length; but there are a few names -so familiar to the scholars of every country that it would be -unpardonable to pass them over entirely without notice.</p> - -<p>The work just quoted, from the very time of its publication -in 1836, established the reputation of Dr. (now Cardinal) Wiseman, -still a very young writer, as a philologist of the first rank. -His latest writings show that, through all the engrossing duties -in which he has since been engaged, he has continued to cultivate -the science of philology.<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> The Cardinal is, moreover, -a most accomplished linguist. Besides the ordinary learned -languages, he is master not only of Hebrew and Chaldee, -but also of Syriac (of his scholarship in which his <i>Horæ -Syriacæ</i> is a most honourable testimony), Arabic, Persian, -and Sanscrit. In modern languages he has few superiors. -He speaks with fluency and elegance French, Italian, German, -Spanish, and Portuguese; and in most of these languages -he has frequently preached or lectured extempore, or with little -preparation.</p> - -<p>The interesting discoveries of Colonel Rawlinson and of Dr. -Hincks, and Dr. Cureton’s very important Syriac publications, -have associated their names with the linguistic as well as the -antiquarian memories of this age. Nor are there many English -Orientalists whose foreign reputation is so high as that of Mr. -Lane. But I am unable to speak of the attainments of any of -these gentlemen in the other families of language.</p> - -<p>By far the most noticeable names in the list of living linguists -of British race are those of Sir John Bowring, now Governor -at Hong-Kong, Professor Lee of Cambridge, and the American -ex-blacksmith, Elihu Burritt. All three, beyond their several -degrees of personal merit, possess a common claim to admiration, -as being almost entirely self-educated. John (now Sir -John) Bowring, as I learn from a Memoir published about -three years since,<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> before he had attained his eighteenth year, -had learned Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, -German, and Dutch. He is said to have since added to his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> -store almost every language of Europe;—Russian, Servian, -Bohemian, Polish, Hungarian, Slovakian, Swedish, Danish, -Icelandic, Lettish, Finnish, and even Basque; and he is further -described as familiar with all the provincial varieties of each; -for instance, of the various offshoots of German, and of the -several dialects of Spanish which prevail in Catalonia, Valencia -and Galicia. Dr. Bowring’s later career brought him into -familiarity with Arabic and Turkish; and his still more recent -successes in China and in Siam and its dependencies are equally -remarkable. It is not so easy to offer an opinion as to the -degree of Sir John Bowring’s acquaintance with each of the -languages which are ascribed to him. His interesting poetical -translations from Russian, Servian, Bohemian, and other languages -of Europe, are rather a test of elegant literary tastes -than of exact linguistic attainments; nor am I aware to what -more direct ordeal his various attainments have been subjected. -It were to be wished that the Memoir from which these particulars -are derived had entered more into detail upon this part -of the subject. But, even making every allowance for possible -exaggeration, it seems impossible to doubt the claim of Sir -John Bowring to a place in the very highest rank of modern -linguists.</p> - -<p>Dr. Samuel Lee is perhaps even a still more extraordinary -example of self-education. He was born in the very humblest -rank in the village of Longnor in Shropshire, and, after having -spent a short time in the poor-school of his native village, -commenced life as a carpenter’s apprentice, when he was but -twelve years old. In the few intervals of leisure which this -laborious occupation permitted, Mr. Jerdan states<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> that, -without the least assistance from masters, he taught himself -Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldee; having contrived, from -the hoardings of his scanty wages, to procure a few elementary -books in these and other languages. On his marriage, however, -he was forced to sell the little library which he had -accumulated, in order to provide for the new wants with which -he found himself encompassed: and for a time his struggle -after learning was suspended; but his extraordinary attainments -having begun to attract notice, he was relieved from the -uncongenial occupation which he had hitherto followed, and -appointed master of a school at Shrewsbury. In the more -favourable position which he had thus obtained, he soon extended<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> -his reading to Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani. In -1813 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where it is worthy -of note that he distinguished himself no less in science than -in languages, and took his degree with much credit. He was -afterwards appointed superintendent of the Oriental press of -the British and Foreign Bible Society, for which body he has -not only edited the Arabic, Persian, Coptic, Hindustani, Malay, -and other versions of the Bible, but has also translated, or -superintended the translation, of many tracts in these various -languages. When Mr. Wheaton, an American traveller, -(brother of the well-known American jurist of that name) -visited Professor Lee, he found him acquainted with no less -than “sixteen languages, in most of which he was able to -write.”<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> Neither this writer, however, nor Mr. Jerdan, informs -us as to the extent of Dr. Lee’s attainments in speaking -foreign languages.</p> - -<p>The list of linguists of the British race may be closed not -unworthily with the still more remarkable name of Elihu Burritt, -who, though born in America (in 1811,) is descended of an -English family, settled in Connecticut for the last two centuries. -The circumstances of Burritt’s father, who was a -shoemaker, were so narrow, that the education of Elihu, the -youngest of five sons, was entirely neglected. When his -father died, Elihu, then above fifteen years old, had spent but -three months at school; and, being altogether dependent on -his own exertions for support, he was obliged to bind himself -as an apprentice to the trade of blacksmith. Fortunately, -however, an elder brother who was a schoolmaster, settled -in the same town before the term of Elihu’s apprenticeship -expired; and as the latter had carefully devoted each spare moment -of his laborious life to reading every book that came within -his reach, he gladly availed himself, as soon as he became his -own master, of his brother’s offer to take him as a pupil for -half a year, which was all the time he could hope to spare -from his craft. During that time, brief as it was, Elihu -“became well versed in mathematics, went through Virgil in -the original, and read several French books.” Having thus -laid the foundation, he returned to his trade, resolved to -labour till he should have acquired the means of completing -the work; and, in the strong passion for knowledge which -devoured him, he actually engaged himself to do the work of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> -two men, in order that, by receiving double wages, he might -more quickly realize the desired independence. Yet, even -while he was thus doubly tasked, and while his daily hours of -labour were no less than fourteen, he contrived to give some -time in the mornings and evenings to Latin, French, and -Spanish; and he actually procured a small “Greek grammar, -which would just <i>lie in the crown of his hat</i>, and used to carry it -with him to read during his work—the casting of brass cow -bells, a task which required no small amount of attention!”</p> - -<p>With the little store which he thus toilfully accumulated, -he betook himself to New Haven, the seat of Yale College, -although without a hope of being able to avail himself of its -literary advantages. Here too he worked almost unaided. -He took lodgings at an inn frequented by the students, -though too poor to enter the university; and in the course of -a few months, by unremitting study, he read through the -whole Iliad in Greek, and had made considerable progress in -Italian and German, besides extending his knowledge of -Spanish and French. Having obtained, soon afterwards, a -commercial appointment, he was partially released, for a space, -from the mechanical drudgery in which he was so long engaged; -and, as he was thus enabled to devote a little more time to his -favourite studies, he contrived to learn Hebrew, and made his -first advance towards a regular course of Oriental reading. -But this interval of rest was a brief one; after a very mortifying -failure, he was at last compelled to return once more to the -anvil, as his only sure resource against poverty. Still, nevertheless, -he toiled on in his enthusiastic struggle for knowledge. -Even while engaged in this painful drudgery, “every moment,” -says Mrs. Howitt,<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> “which he could steal out of the four-and-twenty -hours was devoted to study; he rose early in the -winter mornings, and, while the mistress of the house was -preparing breakfast by lamplight, he would stand by the -mantel-piece, with his Hebrew Bible on the shelf, and his -lexicon in his hand, thus studying while he ate; the same -method was pursued at the other meals; mental and bodily -food being taken in together. This severe labour of mind, as -might be expected, produced serious effects on his health; he -suffered much from headaches, the characteristic remedy for -which were two or three additional hours of hard forging, and -a little less study.”</p> - -<p>An extract from his own weekly Diary, which Mrs. Howitt<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span> -has preserved, tells the story of his struggle still more -touchingly:—“<i>Monday</i>, June 18, headache; forty pages -Cuvier’s Theory of the Earth, sixty-four pages French, eleven -hours forging. <i>Tuesday</i>, sixty-five lines of Hebrew, thirty -pages of French, ten pages Cuvier’s Theory, eight lines Syriac, -ten ditto Danish, ten ditto Bohemian, nine ditto Polish, -fifteen names of stars, ten hours forging. <i>Wednesday</i>, -twenty-five lines Hebrew, fifty pages of astronomy, eleven -hours forging. <i>Thursday</i>, fifty-five lines Hebrew, eight ditto -Syriac, eleven hours forging. <i>Friday</i>, unwell; twelve hours -forging. <i>Saturday</i>, unwell; fifty pages Natural Philosophy, -ten hours forging. <i>Sunday</i>, lesson for Bible class.”</p> - -<p>Through these and many similar difficulties, has this -extraordinary man found his way to eminence. Without -attempting to chronicle the stages of his progress, it will be -enough to state that a writer of last year describes him as at -present acquainted with eighteen languages, besides his native -English, viz:—Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Samaritan, -Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Ethiopic, Italian, French, Spanish, -German, Danish, Irelandic, Esthonian, Bohemian, and Polish.<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> -He is author of several works, and was for some time Editor -of a Journal entitled “The Christian Citizen.”</p> - -<p>As in the case of Dr. Lee, no attempt is made, in either of -the biographies of Burritt which I have consulted, to define -with exactness the degree of his knowledge of each among -the various languages which he has learned; but if his proficiency -in them be at all considerable, his position among -linguists must be admitted to be of the very highest; and -as he is still only in his forty-sixth year, it would be difficult -to predict what may be the limit of his future successes.</p> - -<h3>§ VII. LINGUISTS OF THE SLAVONIC RACE.</h3> - -<p>The extraordinary capacity of the Slavonic races for the acquisition -of foreign languages, has long been a subject of observation -and of wonder. In every educated foreign circle -Russians and Poles may be met, whom it is impossible to distinguish, -by their language, or even by their accent, from the -natives of the country: and this accomplishment is frequently -found to embrace the entire range of the polite languages of -Europe. In the higher native Russian society, it is rare to -meet one who does not speak several languages, besides his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> -own. Every candidate for public office in Russia, especially -in connexion with foreign affairs, must be master of at least -four languages, French, German, English, and Italian; and -in the Eastern governments of the empire, are constantly to -be found employés, who, to the ordinary stock of European -languages, add an equal number of the dialects of the Asiatic -races subject to the Czar.</p> - -<p>In most cases, however, this facility in the use of foreign -languages enjoyed by the natives of Russia and Poland, is -chiefly conversational, and acquired rather by practice than by -study; and, among the numbers who, during the last three -centuries, must be presumed to have possessed this gift in an -eminent degree, very few appear to have acquired a permanent -reputation as scholars in the higher sense of the name.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, too, even were it otherwise, the materials -for a history of Russian linguists are extremely scanty. Not -one of those who have written upon Slavonic Literature, appears -to have adverted to this as a distinct branch of scholarship; -Slavonic scholars, too, have met but imperfect justice from the -writers on general biography; and thus, especially for one to -whom the native sources of information are inaccessible, the -rare allusions which can be gleaned from the general history -of Slavonic literature supply but an uncertain and imperfect -guide,<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> even did opportunities present themselves for pursuing -the inquiry.</p> - -<p>It would be unpardonable, nevertheless, to pass the subject -over in silence; and I can only renew in especial reference to -this part of the memoir, the claim for indulgence with which I -entered upon this Essay.</p> - -<p class="tb">Christianity, and with it the first seeds of civilization, reached -Russia from Constantinople; and it is not unlikely that the -friendly and frequent intercourse which subsisted between the -two courts under the first Christian Dukes of Muscovy, Vladimir -and Jaroslav, may have led to a considerable interchange -of language between the members of the two nations. The -many foreign alliances, too, with Constantinople, Germany, -Hungary, France, England, Norway, and Poland, which were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> -formed by the children of Jaroslav, may, perhaps, have tended -to familiarize his subjects, or at least his court, with some of -the languages of Southern and Western Europe. But no record -of this—the one bright period in early Russian history—has -been preserved, from which any particulars can be gleaned.</p> - -<p>The division of Jaroslav’s dominions between his sons at his -death, (in 1054,) plunged the Russian nation into a series of -civil wars and into the barbarism to which such wars lead, from -which it did not begin to emerge till the sixteenth century; -and, although a few translations (chiefly theological), from -Greek and Latin, were made during this period, yet, from the -interruption of all intercourse with foreign countries, it may -be presumed that (with the exception, perhaps, of a few enterprising -individuals, like the merchant Nikitin,<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> who, in the -fifteenth century, traversed the entire East, and penetrated as -far as Tibet,) the natives of an empire so completely isolated -concerned themselves little about any language beyond their -own.</p> - -<p>Macarius, who was Metropolitan of Moscow in the middle of -the sixteenth century, did something to promote the introduction -of foreign letters into Russia,<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> and many translations, not -only from the Greek and Latin fathers, but also from the classical -writers, were made under his direction. A still greater -impulse must have been given to this particular branch of -study by the new policy introduced by the Czar Boris Feodorowitsch -Godounoff, who not only invited learned foreigners to -his court, but sent eighteen young nobles of Russia to foreign -countries to study their arts, their literature and their -languages.<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a></p> - -<p>The results of this more liberal policy, however, had hardly -begun to be felt, when the troubles which followed the well-known -revolution of Demetrius the Impostor, revived for a -time the worst forms of barbarism in the Empire.</p> - -<p>The elevation (in 1613,) of the family of Romanoff to the -throne, in the person of the Czar Michael, by restoring a more -settled government, contributed to advance the cause of letters. -The monk Beründa Pameva, published about this time a Slavo-Russian -Lexicon, which exhibits in its etymologies an acquaintance -with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span></p> - -<p>A school was founded at Moscow by the priest-monk Arsenius, -for the study of Greek and Latin, in 1643, one of the -scholars of which, Theodore Rtischtscheff, founded a society for -translating works from foreign languages in 1649; and another -school of still more wide-spread influence was opened in the -Monastery of Saikonosspassk, in 1682. It is worthy of remark, -nevertheless, that the first Russian grammar, that of Ludolf,<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> -was printed, not at any native press, but in the University of -Oxford.</p> - -<p>One of the members of the Translation Society alluded to -above, the monk Epiphanius Slawinezki, appears to have been -regarded by his contemporaries as a linguist of notable attainments. -He published a Greek, Latin, and Slavonic Dictionary, -and commenced a Slavonic translation of the Bible from the -original Greek, which was cut short by his death in 1676; but -there is no reason to believe that he was acquainted with any -of the Oriental languages; and the inference to be drawn from -the reputation which he enjoyed on so slight a foundation, is -far from creditable to the linguistic attainments of his time.</p> - -<p>It is only from the reign of Peter the Great that the history -of this, as of all other branches of Russian enlightenment, may -be properly said to commence. Independently of the encouragement -which Peter held out to foreign talent to devote -itself to his service, the grand and comprehensive scheme of -the academy which he planned under the direction of Leibnitz, -contained a special provision for the department of languages.<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> -And although it was not formally opened until after -Peter’s death, by the Empress Catherine I. (1725), the influence -of the policy in which it originated, had made itself -felt long before. The Czar’s favourite, Mentschikoff, who from -an obscure origin (1674-1729) built up the fortunes of what -is now one of the greatest houses of Russia, was master of -eight languages, most of which he spoke with perfect fluency. -Demetrius Kantemir, (1673-1723), father of the celebrated -poet of that name, deserves also to be noticed. He was descended -of a Turkish family, and held the office of Hospodar -of Moldavia; but he prized his literary reputation more than -his rank. He appears to have been a scholar in the highest -sense of the name, and was familiarly acquainted, not only<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> -with the living languages which are so easily acquired by his -countrymen, but with several of the learned languages, both of -the East and the West.<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> The poet, his son Antiochus -Demetrjewitsch, is also described as “master of several languages, -ancient and modern.”<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> The same may be inferred regarding -the great traveller, Basilius Gregorowitsch Barskj, who -was born at Kiew, in 1702. He must necessarily have acquired, -during his long and adventurous wanderings in Europe -and the East, a familiarity with many of the languages of the -various countries through which he journeyed, although he was -prevented from turning it to account upon his return to Russia -by his premature death in 1747.<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> - -<p>Basilius Nikititsch Tatisscheff, one of the youths sent -abroad by Peter the Great, for the purpose of studying in the -foreign universities, enjoyed a considerable reputation as a -linguist.<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> The History of Russia which he compiled, supposes -a familiarity with several Asiatic, as well as European -languages; but, as it is not improbable that part of the materials -which he employed in this history were translated for -his use by assistants engaged for the purpose, it may be -doubted whether this can be assumed as a fair test of his own -capabilities. The linguistic attainments of the celebrated poet -Lemonossoff,<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> although considerable, form his least solid title -to fame. His history is so full of interest, that its incidents, -almost utterly unvarnished, have supplied the narrative of one -of the most popular of modern Russian novels. Born (1711) -in a rude fisher’s hut in the wretched village of Denissowka on -the shore of the Frozen Ocean, he rose by his own unassisted -genius not only to high eminence in science, but to the very -first rank in the literature of his native country, of which he -may truly be described as the founder; and, although he does -not seem to have made languages a special study, he deserves -to be noticed even in this department. He was perfect master -of Greek, Latin, French, and German; and possessed with -other ancient and modern languages, an acquaintance sufficient -for all the purposes of study. The attainments of his contemporary,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> -Basilius Petrowitsch Petroff, (1736) were perhaps -more profound. He was a scholar of the celebrated convent -of Saikonosspassk; and having attracted notice by an ode -which he composed for the coronation of the Empress -Catherine, he was employed, through the influence of -Potemkin, at the English and several other European courts. -Through the opportunities which he thus enjoyed, he became -one of the best linguists of his day, and we may form an -estimate of his zeal and perseverance from the circumstance -of his having learned Romaic after his sixtieth year.<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> Gabriel, -Archbishop of St. Petersburg, (1775-1801) and one of the -most distinguished pulpit orators of Russia, is also mentioned -as a very remarkable linguist.<a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> His success, however, lay -chiefly in modern languages.</p> - -<p>The most eminent scholars engaged in the philological and -ethnological investigations undertaken by the Empress Catherine -II. were foreigners; as, for example, Pallas, and Bakmeister. -Some, however, were native Russians, but few details are -preserved regarding them. Of Sujeff, who accompanied Pallas -in the expedition to Tartary and China, and who translated -the journals of the expedition into Russian,<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> I have not been -able to obtain any particulars. I have been equally unsuccessful -as to the history of Theodore Mirievo de Jankiewitsch, the -compiler of the alphabetical Digest of Pallas’s Comparative -Vocabulary, described in a former page; but it can scarcely -be doubted, from the very nature of his task, that he must -have been a man of no ordinary acquirements as a linguist, -at least as regards the vocabularies of language.</p> - -<p>During the present century a good deal has been done in -Russia for the cultivation of particular families of languages. -The “Lazareff Institute,” founded at Moscow in 1813,<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> by -an Armenian family from which it takes its name, comprehends -in its truly munificent scheme of education not only the -Armenian, Georgian, and Tartar languages, but also the -several members of the Caucasian family.<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> An Oriental -Institute<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> on a somewhat similar plan was established at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> -St. Petersburg in 1823. Another was opened at the still -more favourable centre of languages, Odessa, in 1829; and -a fourth, yet more recently, at Kazan, the meeting point of -the two great classes of languages which practically divide -between them the entire Russian Empire.<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> Individual scholars, -too, have taken to themselves particular branches of the -study, some of them with very remarkable success. Timkoffsky, -the well-known missionary in China,<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> and Hyacinth Bitchourin, -who was head of the Pekin Russian Mission from 1808 to -1812, have contributed to popularize the study of Chinese.<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> -Igumnoff of Irkutsch published a useful dictionary of the -Mongol: Giganoff, and more recently Volkoff, a dictionary of -the Tartar languages; of which Mirza Kazem-Beg, professor of -the Turkish and Tartar languages at St. Petersburg, has -compiled an excellent grammar. The same service has been -rendered to the language of Georgia and its several dialects -by David Tchubinoff.<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> The numerous philological writings -of Goulianoff, too, and, more lately, Prince Alexander -Handjeri’s <i>Dictionnaire Français, Arabe, Persan, et Turc</i>,<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> -have established a European reputation.</p> - -<p>The present Prefect Apostolic of the Arctic Missions, who -is a convert from the Russian Church, is said to be a very -extraordinary linguist. Even before he entered upon his missionary -charge, in which, of course, the circle of his languages -is much enlarged, he habitually heard confessions, at Paris, in -six languages.</p> - -<p>Perhaps also it may be permitted to enumerate among -Russian linguists three eminent literary men who have long -been resident at St. Petersburg, and who, although not natives -of Russia, may now be regarded as naturalised subjects of -the Empire—Senkowsky, Gretsch and Mirza Kazem-Beg.</p> - -<p>The first is by birth a Pole;<a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> but having early attained to -much eminence as an Orientalist, and having travelled with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> -some reputation as an explorer in Syria and Egypt, he obtained -the Professorship of Oriental languages in the university of -St. Petersburg, in which he has since distinguished himself -by an important controversy with the celebrated Von Hammer. -Senkowsky, since his residence in St. Petersburg, has made -the Russian language his own, and is one of the most -prolific writers in the entire range of modern Russian -literature. His grammar of that language is among the most -intelligible to foreigners that has ever been issued. With -most of the languages of Europe, he is said to be perfectly -familiar, and his attainments as an Orientalist are of the very -highest rank. He is a corresponding member of the Asiatic -Societies of most of the capitals of Europe, and publishes -indifferently in Polish, Russian, German, and French.</p> - -<p>Gretsch, the editor of the well-known St. Petersburg -Journal, “The Northern Bee,” is perhaps less profound, but -equally varied in his attainments. Although a German by -birth, he writes exclusively in Russian, and is the author of the -best and most popular extant history of Russian literature; of -which Otto’s <i>Lehrbuch der Russischen Literatur</i>, although -apparently an independent work, is almost a literal translation.<a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p> - -<p>Mirza Kazem-Beg is of the Tartar race, but a native of -Astracan, where his father, a man of much reputation for -learning, had settled about the commencement of the century. -Soon after the establishment of the professorship of the Turkish -and Tartar languages at Kazan, Kazem-Beg was selected to -fill it; and, after some time, he was removed to the same chair -in the University of Petersburg, which he still holds. Besides -the ordinary learned languages, he is acquainted with the -Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, Syrian, Persian, and Turkish, as well -as those of the Tartar stock; and he is described as perfect -master of the modern European languages, especially French, -Italian, German, and English. The last named language he -speaks and writes with great ease and elegance, and has even -published some translations into it, as, for example, the -“Derbend-Nâmeh.”<a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">The reputation of the Poles as linguists is equally high. -So far back as the election of Henry de Valois, Choisnin, who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> -accompanied Henry to Poland, says that of the two hundred -Polish nobles who were then assembled, there were hardly two -who did not speak, in addition to their native Polish, German, -Italian, and Latin.<a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> So universal was the knowledge of the -last named language that, with perhaps a pardonable exaggeration, -Martin Kromer alleges that there were fewer in Poland -than in Latium itself who did not speak it.<a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a></p> - -<p>Nevertheless, few names present themselves in this department -which have left any permanent trace in history. Francis -Meninski, the learned author of the <i>Thesaurus Linguarum -Orientalium</i>,<a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> was not only a profound scholar in most of the -ancient and modern languages, but, from his long residence in -the East, and from the office of Oriental Interpreter which he -held, first in the Polish and afterwards in the Imperial service, -must be presumed to have spoken them freely and familiarly. -But Meninski was a native of Lorraine, and by some is believed -to have been originally named <i>Menin</i>, and only to have adopted -the Polish affix, <i>ski</i>, on receiving from the Diet his patent of -naturalization and nobility.</p> - -<p>Among the early Polish Jesuits were many accomplished -classical and Oriental linguists, but in the absence of any particulars -of their attainments, it would be uninteresting to -enumerate them. In later times the names of Groddek and -Bobrowski may be mentioned as philologers, if not as linguists. -The learned Jesuit historian, John Christopher Albertrandy, -also, possesses this among many other lilies to fame. He was -a most laborious and successful collector of materials for Polish -history, in search of which he explored the libraries of Italy,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> -from whence he carried home, after three years of patient -research, a hundred and ten folio volumes of extracts copied -with his own hand! From Italy he proceeded to Stockholm and -Upsala, where many important documents connected with the -time of John III. and Sigismond III. are preserved: and here, -being, from some unworthy jealousy, only permitted to inspect -the desired documents on the condition of not making notes -or copies in the library, his prodigious memory enabled him -on his return each evening to his apartments, to commit to -writing what he had read during the day, and the collection -thus formed amounted to no fewer than ninety folio volumes!<a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> -Albertrandy’s historical works are very numerous; and when -his labours in this department are remembered, his success as -a linguist will appear almost prodigious. Besides Latin, Greek, -and Hebrew, he knew most of the modern languages, French, -English, Italian, German, and Russian, and spoke the majority -of them with ease and propriety.</p> - -<p>The well-known Polish General, Wenceslaus Rzewuski, -devoted the later years of his busy and chequered career to -literary, and especially to linguistic, pursuits. He is said to -have spoken the learned tongues as well and as freely as his -native Polish, and to have been master, moreover, of all the -leading modern languages of Europe. The great Oriental -Journal published at Vienna, <i>Fundgruben des Orients</i>, which -is really what its title implies, a <i>mine</i> of Oriental learning, was -for many years under his superintendence.</p> - -<p>The Russo-Polish diplomatist, Count Andrew Italinski, is -another example of the union of profound scholarship with -great talents for public affairs. Born in Poland about the -middle of the eighteenth century, Italinski visited in the -successive stages of his education, Kiew, Leyden, Edinburgh, -London, Paris, and Berlin, and acquired the languages of all -those various countries. Being eventually appointed to the -Russian embassy in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, he became -even more perfect in Italian. In addition to all these languages, -he was so thoroughly master of those of the East, Turkish, -Arabic, Persian, &c., as to challenge the admiration even of -the Easterns themselves.<a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p> - -<p>It is perhaps right to add that the eminent Orientalist of -St. Petersburg, Senkowsky, although a Russian by residence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span> -and by association, is not only, as I have already stated, of -Polish birth, but is, moreover, one of the most popular writers -in his native language.</p> - -<p class="tb">Our notice of Bohemian linguists must be even more -meagre.</p> - -<p>The early period of Bohemian letters presents no distinguished -name. From the extraordinary activity which the Bohemians -exhibited in translating the Bible in the fifteenth century, it -might be supposed that the study of Greek and Hebrew had -already taken root in the schools of Prague. But out of the -“thirty-three copies in Bohemian of the entire Bible, and -twenty-two of the New Testament,”<a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> which are still extant, -translated during that period, not one was rendered from the -original languages. Blakoslav, the first translator of the Bible -from Greek (in 1563) is said to have been a man of “profound -erudition.” The same is said of George Strye a few years -later; and the Jesuits Konstanj, Steyer, and Drachovsky, are -also entitled to notice.</p> - -<p>John Amos Komnensky, also, better known by his Latinized -name, Comenius, a native of Komna in Moravia, (1592-1671) -deserved well of linguistic science, not only by his own acquirements, -but by his well-known work, the <i>Janua Linguarum -Reserata</i>, which has had the rare fortune of being translated -not only into twelve European languages, but into those of -several Oriental nations besides. The <i>Janua Linguarum</i>, -however, though it attracted much attention at the time, has -long been forgotten.</p> - -<p>It would be still more unpardonable to overlook the celebrated -philologer, Father Joseph Dobrowsky, who, although -born in Raab, in Hungary, was of a Bohemian family, and -devoted himself especially to the literature and language of -his nation. He had just entered the Jesuit society at Brunn -at the moment of the suppression of the order. Repairing to -Prague, he applied himself for a time to the study of the -Oriental languages, but eventually concentrated all his energies -on the history and language of Bohemia. His works upon -Bohemian history and antiquities fill many volumes; and his -Slavonic Grammar may be regarded as a classical work, not -only in reference to his native language, but to the whole<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> -Slavonian family. Father Dobrowsky survived till the year -1829, engaged until the very time of his death in active projects -for the cultivation of the language and literature of the -country of his adoption.</p> - -<p>But probably the most remarkable name among Bohemian -linguists is that of Father Dobrowsky’s friend, the poet -Wenceslaus Hanka, born at Horeneyes in 1791. Hanka’s -love of languages was first stirred while he was tending sheep -near his native village, by the opportunity which he had of learning -Polish and Servian from some soldiers of these races being -quartered upon his father’s farm. When he grew somewhat -older, his parents, in order to save him from the chances of -military conscription, (from which, in Bohemia, scholars are -exempted) sent him to school; and he afterwards entered the -University of Prague, and subsequently that of Vienna. On -the foundation of the Bohemian Museum at Prague, he was -appointed its librarian, through the recommendation of Father -Dobrowsky; and from that time he devoted himself almost -entirely to the antiquities, literature, and language of his native -country. Besides his own original compositions, Hanka’s -name has obtained considerable celebrity in connexion with -the controversy about the genuineness of the early Bohemian -poems known under the title of “Kralodvor,”—a controversy -which, although it has ended differently, was for a time hardly -less animated than those regarding the Ossian and Rowley -MSS. in England. Notwithstanding the variety of Hanka’s -pursuits, and his especial devotion to his own language, his -acquisitions in languages have been most various and extensive. -He is described in the “Oesterreichische National Encyclopædie” -as “master of eighteen languages.”<a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">With the Slavonic race our Catalogue of Linguists closes. -Many particulars regarding the eminent names which it -comprises are, of necessity, left vague and undetermined. I -should have especially desired to distinguish, in all cases, -between mere book knowledge of languages and the power of -writing, or still more of speaking, them. But unfortunately -the accounts which are preserved regarding these scholars -hardly ever enter into this distinction. Even Sir William<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> -Jones, though he carefully classified the languages which he -knew, did not specify this particular; and in most other instances, -the narrative, far from particularizing, like that of Jones, the -extent of the individual’s acquaintance with each language, even -leaves in uncertainty the number of languages with which -he was acquainted in any degree.</p> - -<p>The very distribution, too, which I have found it expedient -to follow—according to nations—has had many disadvantages. -But it seemed to be upon the whole the most convenient that -could be devised. A distribution into periods, besides that it -would have been difficult to follow out upon any clear and -intelligible principle, would have been attended with the same -disadvantages which characterize that according to nations; -while the more strictly philosophical distribution according to -ethnographical or philological schools, would have in great -measure failed to illustrate the object which I have chiefly had -in view. Several of the most eminent of the modern ethnographical -writers, and particularly Pritchard, disavow all claim -to the character of linguists; and the qualifications of many -even of those whose pretensions seem the highest, have, when -submitted to a rigid examination, proved far more than -problematical.</p> - -<p class="tb">There are many curious details, however, into which, if space -permitted, it would be interesting to pursue this inquiry.</p> - -<p>It might seem natural, for instance, to investigate the nature -and extent of the Miraculous Gift of Languages—the γένη -γλωσσῶν of St. Paul—whether that possessed by the Apostles -and other early teachers of Christianity, or that ascribed in -later times to the missionaries among the Heathen, and especially -to the great Apostle of India, St. Francis Xavier. Materials -are not wanting for such an investigation;<a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> but as it can -hardly be said to bear upon the subject of this Biography, I -have reluctantly passed it by.</p> - -<p>The history of Royal Linguists, too, might afford much -amusing material for speculation. Mithridates, King of Pontus, -as we have seen, spoke twenty-two languages. Cleopatra was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> -mistress, not only of seven languages enumerated by Plutarch, -but, if we may believe his testimony, of most other known -languages of the time. The accomplished, but ill-fated, Queen -of Palmyra, Zenobia, was familiar with Greek, Latin, Syriac, -and Egyptian; and it may be presumed from the notion which -prevailed among some Christian writers of her being a Jewess, -that she was also acquainted with Hebrew or its kindred -tongues.<a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> Most of the Roman Emperors were able indifferently -to speak Greek or Latin.</p> - -<p>The mediæval sovereigns, with the exception of Frederic II., -referred to in a former page,<a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> and the great and learned Pope -Sylvester II., better known by his family name Gerbert,<a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> share, -as linguists, the common mediocrity of the age. The learned -Princess Anna Comnena does not appear at all distinguished -in this particular; Charlemagne’s reputation rests on his -acquaintance with Latin, and perhaps also Greek; and our -own Alfred was regarded as a notable example of success, -although there is no evidence that his linguistic attainments -extended beyond a knowledge of Latin.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span></p> - -<p>Very early, however, after the revival of letters, Matthias -Corvinus, the learned and munificent King of Hungary, attained -a rank as a linguist not unworthy of a later day. Besides the -learned languages, he was also acquainted with most of the -living tongues of Europe. Charles V. knew and spoke five -languages.<a id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> Henry VIII. spoke four. Several of the Roman -Pontiffs, particularly Paul IV., in other respects also a most -remarkable scholar,<a id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> and the great Benedict XIV., were learned -Orientalists, as well as good general linguists. The house of -Stuart was eminent for the gift of tongues. The ill-fated Mary -of Scotland spoke most of the European languages. James I., -her son, with all his silly pedantry, was by no means -a contemptible linguist. His grandson, Charles II., spoke -French and Spanish fluently; and his brilliant grand-daughter, -Elizabeth of Bavaria, who alone, according to Descartes, of -all her contemporaries, was able to understand the Cartesian -philosophy, was mistress, besides many scientific and literary -accomplishments, of no fewer than six languages.<a id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> Christina -of Sweden surpassed her in one particular. She knew as many -as eight languages, the major part of which she spoke fluently.</p> - -<p>Nor are the courts of our own day without examples of the -same acquirement. The late Emperor of Russia spoke five -languages. Several of the reigning sovereigns of Europe, -Queen Victoria, Alexander of Russia, and Napoleon III. -among the number, enjoy the reputation of excellent linguists. -The young Emperor of Austria is an accomplished classical -scholar, and a perfect master of French, and of all the languages -of his own vast empire—German, Italian, Hungarian, Czechish, -and Servian! Prince Lewis Lucian Bonaparte is a distinguished -philologer, as well as a skilful linguist. His “Polyglot Parable -of the Sower” is an interesting contribution to the former -science. Even the remote kingdom of Siam furnishes, in its -two Royal brothers, the First and the Second King, an example -more deserving of praise than would be a far higher success -in a more favoured land. The First King, Somdetch Phra -Paramendt Maha Mongkut,<a id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> has evinced a degree of intellectual<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> -activity, rare indeed among the potentates of the East. -Besides the ancient language and literature of his own kingdom, -and all its modern dialects and sub-divisions, he knows Sanscrit, -Cingalese, and Peguan. From the Catholic missionaries, -especially Bishop Pallegoix, he has learned Latin and also -Greek, and from the American Baptists, English. His letters, -though sometimes unidiomatical, are highly characteristic, and -display much intelligence and ability. He is also well versed -in European sciences, especially astronomy and mechanics. -He has formed, moreover, a very considerable collection of -astronomical and philosophical apparatus; has established -printing and lithographic presses in the palace; and has imported -steam machinery of various kinds from America. It is -gratifying to add that his brother, the Second King, shares all -his tastes, and is treading worthily in his footsteps.</p> - -<p class="tb">A still more attractive topic would be the long line of Lady-Linguists.</p> - -<p>It is not a little remarkable that, among the sovereigns who -have distinguished themselves as linguists, the proportion of -queens is very considerable. The three names, Cleopatra, -Zenobia, and Christina of Sweden, unquestionably represent a -larger aggregate of languages than any three of the king-linguists, -if we exclude Mithridates.</p> - -<p>Nor are the humbler lady-linguists unworthy this companionship. -The nun Roswitha, of Gandesheim, still favourably -known by her sacred Latin poetry, was also acquainted with -Greek—a rare accomplishment in the tenth century. Tarquinia -Molza, grand-daughter of the gifted, but licentious poet of the -same name, knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as well as the -ordinary modern languages. Elena Cornaro Piscopia knew -Italian, Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and even -Arabic.<a id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> Nay, strange as it may seem in modern eyes, the -university of Bologna numbers several ladies among the occupants -of its pulpits. The beautiful Novella d’Andrea, daughter -of the great jurist, Giovanni d’Andrea, professor of law in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> -University of Bologna in the 15th century, was wont to take -her father’s place as lecturer on law; observing, however, the -precaution of using a veil, lest her beauty should distract the -attention of her pupils. Her mother Milancia, scarcely less -learned, was habitually consulted by Giovanni on all questions -of special difficulty which arose.<a id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> Laura Bassi held the chair -of philosophy in more modern times.<a id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> Clotilda Tambroni, -the last and not the least distinguished of the lady professors -of Bologna, has, besides her literary glories, the honour of -having suffered in the cause of loyalty and religion. Like her -friend and fellow professor, Mezzofanti, she refused, on the -occupation of Bologna by the French, to take the oaths of the -new government, and was deprived of the professorship of -Greek in consequence.</p> - -<p>The learned ladies of Bologna are not alone among their countrywomen. -The celebrated Dominican nun, Cassandra Fedele -of Venice; Alessandra Scala of Florence; and Olympia Fulvia -Morata of Ferrara, are all equally distinguished as proficients -in at least two learned languages, Latin and Greek. Margherita -Gaetana Agnesi, of Milan, was familiar with Latin at -nine years of age; and, while still extremely young, mastered -Greek and Hebrew, together with French, Spanish, and -German. In the very meridian of her fame, nevertheless, -she renounced the brilliant career which lay open to her, in -order to devote herself to God as a Sister of Charity. Another -fair Italian, Modesta Pozzo, born at Venice in 1555, deserves -to be mentioned, although she is better known for her extraordinary -powers of memory, than her skill in languages.<a id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> She -was able to repeat the longest sermon after hearing it but once.</p> - -<p>Nor are we without examples, although perhaps not so numerous, -in other countries. Many Spanish and Portuguese -ladies learned in languages, are enumerated by Nicholas de -Antonio.<a id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> Dona Anna de Villegas, and D. Cecilia di Arellano, -besides being excellent Latinists, were mistresses of -French, Italian, and Portuguese.<a id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> To these languages D.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> -Cecilia de Morellas added Greek as one of her accomplishments,<a id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> -and D. Juliana de Morell, a nun of the Dominican -order in the middle of the seventeenth century, in addition to -these languages, was not only a learned Hebraist, but an acute -and skilful disputant in the philosophy of the schools.<a id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a></p> - -<p>The accomplished Anna Maria Schurmann, of whom Cologne -is still justly proud, in addition to her numerous gifts in painting, -sculpture, music, and poetry, was mistress of eight languages, -among which were Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and -Ethiopic.</p> - -<p>The brilliant, but eccentric Russian Princess Dashkoff, holds -a still more prominent place in the world of letters. The early -friend and confidant of the Empress Catherine, and (with a -few alternations of disfavour,) the sharer of most of the literary -projects of that extraordinary woman, the Princess Dashkoff -had the (for a lady rare) honour of holding the place of President -of the Russian Academy. When the Dictionary of the -Academy was projected, she actually undertook, in her own -person, three letters of the work, together with the general -superintendence of the entire! The princess was not unfamiliar -with the learned languages, some of which she not only -spoke but wrote: but her chief attainments were in those of -modern Europe. Her autobiographical Memoirs appear to -have been written in French; and the English letters embodied -in the work prove her to have possessed a thorough knowledge -of that language also.</p> - -<p>Some of our own countrywomen, if less showy, may perhaps -advance a more solid title to distinction. The beautiful -Mrs. Carter, translator of Epictetus, well deserves to be -mentioned; and the amiable and singularly gifted Elizabeth -Smith, is a not unmeet consort for the most eminent linguists -of any age. “With scarcely any assistance,” writes her biographer, -Mrs. Bowdler, to Dr. Mummsen,<a id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> “she taught herself -the French, Italian, Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, and -Hebrew languages. She had no inconsiderable knowledge -of Arabic and Persian.” Her translation of the Book of Job -is a permanent evidence that her knowledge of Hebrew was of -no ordinary kind.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span></p> - -<p>Even the New World has supplied some names to -this interesting catalogue. The Mexican poetess, Juana Inez -de la Cruz, better known as the “Nun of Mexico,” (1651-95), -a marvel of precocious knowledge, learned Latin in -twenty lessons, when a mere girl; and quickly became such -a proficient as to speak it with ease and fluency. Her -acquisitions in general learning were most various and -extensive; and when on one occasion, in her seventeenth year, -forty learned men of Mexico were invited to dispute with her, -she proved a match for each in his own particular department. -All these accomplishments, notwithstanding, she had the humility -to bury in the obscurity of a convent in Mexico, where -she silently devoted herself for twenty-seven years to literature -and religion. She died in 1695, leaving behind many works -still regarded as classics in the language, which fill no less than -three 4to. volumes, and have passed through twelve successive -editions in Spain. All, with the exception of two, are on sacred -subjects.<a id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a></p> - -<p>“Infant Phenomena” of language would supply another curious -and fertile topic for inquiry—an inquiry too in a psychological -point of view eminently interesting.</p> - -<p>Many of the great linguists enumerated in this Memoir, -Pico of Mirandola, Crichton, Martin del Rio, and several others, -owed part of their celebrity to the marvellous precociousness of -their gifts. A far larger proportion, however, of those who -prematurely displayed this talent, were cut off before it had -attained any mature or healthy development.</p> - -<p>Cancellieri<a id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> mentions a child named Jacopo Martino,<a id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> born -at Racuno, in the Venetian territory, in 1639, who not only -acquired a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, between the age -of three and seven, but made such progress in philosophical -science as successfully to maintain a public thesis in philosophy -at Rome, when no more than eight years of age.<a id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> This extraordinary -child, however, died of exhaustion in 1649, before -he had completed his ninth year.</p> - -<p>It was the same for Claudio del Valle y Hernandez, a Spanish -prodigy, mentioned by the same author.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span></p> - -<p>But probably the most extraordinary examples of this psychological -phenomenon upon record, occur, by a curious coincidence, -almost at the very same date in the commencement -of the eighteenth century. Within the three years, from -1719 to 1721, were born in different countries, three children -of a precociousness (even though we accept the traditions regarding -them with great deductions,) entirely without parallel -in history.</p> - -<p>The first of these, John Lewis Candiac, was born at Nismes, -in 1719. This strangely gifted child, we are told, was able, -in his third year, to speak not only his native French but also -Latin. Before he was six years old he spoke also Greek and -Hebrew. He was well versed, besides, in arithmetic, geography, -ancient and modern history, and even heraldry.<a id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> But, -as might be expected, these premature efforts quickly exhausted -his overtaxed powers, and he died of water on the brain in -1726, at seven years of age.</p> - -<p>Christian Henry Heinecken, a child of equal promise, was -cut off even more prematurely. He was born at Lubeck in -1721. He is said to have been able to speak at ten months -old. By the time he attained his twelfth month, he had learned, -if his biographers can be credited, all the facts in the history -of the Pentateuch.<a id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> In another month he added to this all -the rest of the history of the old Testament; and, when he -was but fourteen months old, he was master of all the leading -facts of the Bible! At two and a half years of age, he spoke -fluently, besides his native German, the French and Latin languages. -In this year he was presented at the Danish court, -where he excited universal astonishment. But, on his return -home, he fell sick and died in his fourth year.</p> - -<p>The third of these marvels of precocity, John Philip -Baratier, who is probably known to many readers by Johnson’s -interesting memoir,<a id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> was born at Anspach in the same year -with Heinecken, 1721. His career, however, was not so brief, -nor were its fruits so ephemeral, as those of the ill-fated -children just named. When Baratier was only four years old, -he was able to speak Latin, French, and German. At six he -spoke Greek; and at nine Hebrew; in which latter language -the soundness of his attainments is attested by a lexicon which -he published in his eleventh year. Nor was Baratier a mere<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> -linguist. He is said to have mastered elementary mathematics -in three months, and to have qualified himself by thirteen -month’s study for the ordinary thesis maintained at taking out -the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was also well versed in -architecture, in ancient and modern literature, in antiquities, -and even the uncommon science of numismatics. He translated -from the Hebrew Benjamin of Tudela’s “Itinerary.” He -published a detailed and critical account of the Rabbinical -Bible; and communicated to several societies elaborate papers -on astronomical and mathematical subjects. This extraordinary -youth died at the age of nineteen in 1760.</p> - -<p>Later<a id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> in the same century was born at Rome a child named -Giovanni Cristoforo Amaduzzi,<a id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> if not quite so precocious as -this extraordinary trio, at least of riper intellect, and destined -to survive for greater distinction and for a more useful career. -The precise dates of his various attainments do not appear to -be chronicled; but, when he was only twelve years old, he -published a poetical translation of the Hecuba of Euripides, -which excited universal surprise; and a few years later, on -the visit of the Emperor Joseph II. and his brother Leopold -to Rome, he addressed to the Emperor a polyglot ode of welcome -in Greek, Latin, Italian, and French. His after studies, -however, were more serious and more practical. He is well-known, -not only as a linguist, but also as a philologer of some -merit; and in his capacity of corrector of the Propaganda -Oriental Press, a post which he filled till his death, in 1792, -he rendered many important services to Oriental studies.<a id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">It would be interesting too, and not without its advantage -in reference to the history of the human mind, to collect -examples of what may be called Uneducated Linguists; of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> -Dragomans, Couriers, “Lohnbedienter,” and others<a id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a>, who, -ignorant of all else besides, have acquired a facility almost -marvellous of speaking several languages fluently, and in many -cases with sufficient, seeming accuracy.</p> - -<p>Perhaps this is the place to mention the once notorious (to -use his own favourite designation) “Odcombian Leg-stretcher,” -Tom Coryat, a native of Odcombe in Somersetshire (1577-1617), -and author of the now rare volume, “Coryat’s Crudities.”<a id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> -Coryat may fairly be described as “an uneducated linguist;” -for, although he passed through Westminster School, and -afterwards entered Gloucester Hall, Oxford, the languages -which he learned were all picked up, without regular study, -during his long pedestrian wanderings in every part of the -world; one of which, of nearly two thousand miles, he accomplished -in a single pair of shoes, (which he hung up in -the church of Odcombe as a votive offering on his return), -and another, of no less than two thousand seven hundred, -at a cost of about three pounds sterling! This strange genius -acquired, in a sufficient degree for all the wants of conversation, -Italian, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani!</p> - -<p>Another singularity of the same kind was Robert Hill, the -Jewish tailor, whom Spence has made the subject of an exceedingly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> -curious parallel with Magliabecchi.<a id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> And many similar -examples might doubtless be collected among the couriers, -interpreters, and valets-de-place of most of the European -capitals. Baron von Zach mentions an ordinary valet-de-place -who could speak nearly all the European languages with the -greatest ease and correctness, although he was utterly ignorant -not only of the grammar of every one of them, but even of -that of his own language. I have already said that the same -species of talent is hereditary in several families in different -ports and cities of the Levant.</p> - -<p>The history of such cases as these, if it were possible to -investigate it accurately, might throw light on the operations -of the mind in the acquisition of languages. These, however, -and many similar topics, interesting and curious as they are -for their own sake, have but little bearing on the present -inquiry; the purpose of which is simply to prepare the way -for a fitting estimate of the attainments of the illustrious -subject of the following Biography, by placing in contrast with -them the gifts of others who, at various times, have risen to -eminence in the same department. Cardinal Mezzofanti will -be found to stand so immeasurably above even the highest -of these names, in the department of language, that, at least -for the purposes of comparison with him, its minor celebrities -can possess little claim for consideration.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LIFE">THE LIFE<br> -<span class="smaller">OF</span><br> -CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1774-1798.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>A Memoir of Cardinal Mezzofanti can be little more -than a philological essay. Quiet and uneventful as -was his career, its history possesses few of the ordinary -attractions of Biography. The main interest of -such a narrative must consist in the light which it -may tend to throw on the curious problem;—what -degree of perfection the human mind, concentrating -its powers upon one department of knowledge, is capable -of attaining therein; and the highest hope of -the author is to escape the reproach which Warburton -directed against Boileau’s biographer, Desmaiseaux, -of having “written a book without a life.”</p> - -<p class="tb">Joseph Caspar Mezzofanti,<a id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> was born at Bologna,<a id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> -on the 17th of September, 1774.<a id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> His father, -Francis Mezzofanti, a native of the same city, was of -very humble extraction, and by trade a carpenter. -Though almost entirely uneducated,<a id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> Francis Mezzofanti -is described by the few who remember him, as -a man of much shrewdness and intelligence, a skilful -mechanic, and universally respected for his integrity, -piety, and honourable principles. For Mezzofanti’s -mother, Gesualda Dall’ Olmo, a higher lineage -has been claimed;—the name of Dall’ Olmo<a id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> -being extremely ancient and not undistinguished in -the annals of Bologna; but the fortunes of the immediate -branch of that family from which Gesualda -Dall’ Olmo sprung, were no less humble than those -of her husband. Her education, however, was somewhat -superior; and with much simplicity and sweetness -of disposition, she united excellent talents, great -prudence and good sense, and a profoundly religious -mind.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span></p> - -<p>Of this marriage were born several children; but -they all died at an early age, except a daughter named -Teresa, and Joseph Caspar, the subject of the present -biography. Teresa was the senior by ten years, and, -while her brother was yet a boy, married a young -man named Joseph Lewis Minarelli,<a id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> by trade a -hair dresser, to whom she bore a very numerous family,<a id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> -several of whom still survive. To the kind -courtesy of one of these, the Cavaliere Pietro Minarelli,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> -I am indebted for a few particulars of the family -history, and of the early years of his venerated -uncle.<a id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> - -<p>It may be supposed that in the case of Mezzofanti, -as in those of most men who attain to eminence in -life, there are not wanting marvellous tales of his -youthful studies, and anecdotes of the first indications -of the extraordinary gift by which his later years -were distinguished.</p> - -<p>According to one of these accounts, his first years -were entirely neglected, and he was placed, while -yet a mere child, in the workshop of his father, to -learn the trade of a carpenter. As is usual in the -towns of Italy, the elder Mezzofanti, for the most -part, plied his craft not within doors, but in the open<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> -street: and it chanced that the bench at which the -boy was wont to work was situated directly opposite -the window of a school kept by an old priest, -who instructed a number of pupils in Latin and -Greek. Although utterly unacquainted, not only -with the Greek alphabet, but even with that of his -own language, young Mezzofanti, overhearing the lessons -which were taught in the school, caught up -every Greek and Latin word that was explained in -the several classes, without once having seen a Greek -or Latin book! By some lucky accident the fact -came to the knowledge of his unwitting instructor: -it led of course to the withdrawal of the youth from -the mechanical craft to which his father had destined -him, and rescued him for the more congenial pursuit -of literature.<a id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a></p> - -<p>A still more marvellous tale is told by a popular -American writer, Mr. Headley, whom his transatlantic -admirers have styled the “Addison of America;” -that while Mezzofanti “was still an obscure priest in -the north of Italy, he was called one day to confess -two foreigners condemned for piracy, who were to be -executed next day. On entering their cell, he found -them unable to understand a word he uttered. -Overwhelmed with the thought that the criminals -should leave the world without the benefits of religion, -he returned to his room, resolved to acquire the language<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span> -before morning. He accomplished his task, -and next day confessed them in their own tongue! -From that time on, he had no trouble in mastering -the most difficult language. The purity of his motive -in the first instance, he thought, influenced the -Deity to assist him miraculously.”<a id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> This strange -tale Mr. Headley relates, on the authority of a priest, -a friend of Mezzofanti; and he goes so far as to say, -that “Mezzofanti himself attributed his power of -acquiring languages to the divine influence.”<a id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a></p> - -<p>The imagination might dwell with pleasure upon -these and similar tales of wonder; but, happily for -the moral lesson which it is the best privilege of biography -to convey, the true history of the early studies -of Mezzofanti, (although while falling far short -of these marvels, it is too wonderful to be held out -as a model even for the most aspiring) is, nevertheless, -such as to show that the most gifted themselves -can only hope to attain to true eminence by patient -and systematic industry.</p> - -<p>Far from being entirely neglected, as these tales -would imply, Mezzofanti’s education commenced at -an unusually early period. His parents—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A virtuous household, but exceeding poor,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">conscious of their own want of learning, appear, -from the very first, to have bestowed upon the education -of their son all the care which their narrow -circumstances permitted. According to an account<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> -obtained from the Cavaliere Minarelli, he was sent, -while a mere child, not yet three years old, to a -dame’s school, more, it would seem, for security, than -for actual instruction. Being deemed too young to -be regularly taught, he was here left for a time to sit -in quiet and amuse himself as best he could, while the -other children were receiving instruction; but the -mistress soon discovered that the child, although excluded -from the lessons of his elders, had learned -without any effort, all that had been communicated -to them, and was able to repeat promptly and accurately -the tasks which she had dictated. He was -accordingly admitted to the regular classes; and, -child as he was, passed rapidly through the various -elementary branches of instruction, to which alone -her humble school extended.</p> - -<p>From this dame’s school he was removed to the -more advanced, but still elementary, school of the -Abate Filippo Cicotti, in which he learned grammar, -geography, writing, arithmetic, algebra, and the elements -of Latin. But, after some time, the excellent -priest who conducted this school, honestly advised the -parents, young as was their boy, to remove him to -another institution, and to permit him to apply himself -unrestrainedly to the higher studies for which -he was already fully qualified.</p> - -<p>His father appears to have demurred for a while -to this suggestion. Limiting his views in reference to -the boy to the lowly sphere in which he himself had -been born, he had only contemplated bestowing upon -him a solid elementary education in the branches<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> -of knowledge suited to its humble requirements; -and, with the old-fashioned prejudices not uncommon -in his rank, he was unwilling to sanction his son’s -entering upon what appeared to him an unnatural -and unprofitable career, for one who was destined to -earn his bread by a mechanical art. Fortunately, -however, his wife entertained higher and more enlightened -views for their child, and understood better -his character and capabilities.</p> - -<p>It was mainly, however, through the counsel and -influence of a benevolent priest of the Oratory, Father -John Baptist Respighi, that the career of the -young Mezzofanti was decided. This excellent clergyman, -to whom many deserving youths of his native -city were indebted for assistance and patronage -in their entrance into life, observed the rare talents -of Mezzofanti, and, by his earnest advice, promptly -overruled the hesitation of his father. At his recommendation, -the boy was transferred from the school -of the Abate Cicotti, to one of the so-called “Scuole -Pie,” of Bologna;—schools conducted by a religious -congregation, which had been founded in the beginning -of the seventeenth century, by Joseph Cazalana; -and which, though originally intended chiefly -for the more elementary branches of education, had -also been directed with great success, (especially in -the larger cities,) to the cultivation of the higher -studies.</p> - -<p>Among the clergymen who at this period devoted -themselves to the service of the Scuole Pie, at Bologna, -were several members of the recently suppressed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> -society of the Jesuits, not only of the Roman, but -also of the Spanish and Spanish American provinces. -The expulsion of the society from Spain had preceded -by more than three years the general suppression of -the order; and the Spanish members of the brotherhood, -when exiled from their native country, had -found a cordial welcome in the Papal states. Among -these were several who were either foreigners by -birth, or had long resided in the foreign missions of -the society. To them all the Scuole Pie seemed to -open a field of labour almost identical with that of -their own institute. Many of them gladly embraced -the opportunity; and it can hardly be doubted that -the facility of learning a variety of languages, which -this accidental union of instructors from so many -different countries afforded, was, after his own natural -bias, among the chief circumstances which determined -the direction of the youthful studies of Mezzofanti.</p> - -<p>One of these ex-Jesuits, Father Emanuel Aponte, -a native of Spain, had been for many years a member -of the mission of the Philippine Islands. Another, -Father Mark Escobar, was a native of Guatemala, and -had been employed in several of the Mexican and -South American missions of the society. A third, Father -Laurence Ignatius Thiulen, had passed through a -still more remarkable career. He was a native of -Gottenburg, in Sweden, where his father held the -office of superintendent of the Swedish East India -Company, and had been born (1746,) a Lutheran. -Leaving home in early youth with the design of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> -improving himself by foreign travel, he spent some -time in Lisbon, and afterwards in Cadiz, in 1768; -whence, with the intention of proceeding to Italy, he -embarked for the island of Corsica, in the same ship -in which he had reached Lisbon from his native -country. In the meantime, however, this ship had -been chartered by the government as one of the fleet -in which the Jesuit Fathers, on their sudden and -mysterious suppression in Spain, were to be transported -to Italy. By this unexpected accident, Thiulen -became the fellow passenger of several of the exiled -fathers. Trained from early youth to regard with -suspicion and fear every member of that dreaded -order, he at first avoided all intercourse with his Jesuit -fellow passengers. By degrees, however, their unobtrusive, -but ready courtesy, disarmed his suspicions. -He became interested in their conversation, even -when it occasionally turned upon religious topics. -Serious inquiry succeeded; and in the end, before -the voyage was concluded, his prejudices had been so -far overcome, that he began to entertain the design of -becoming a Catholic. After his landing in the Island -of Corsica, many obstacles were thrown in his way -by the Swedish consul at Bastia, himself a Lutheran; -but Thiulen persevered, and was enabled eventually -to carry his design into execution at Ferrara, in -1769. In the following year, 1770, he entered the -Jesuit society at Bologna. He was here admitted -to the simple vow in 1772. But he had hardly -completed this important step, when the final suppression -of the Order was proclaimed; and, although<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> -both as a foreigner, and as being unprofessed, he had -no claim to the slender pittance which was assigned -for the support of the members, the peculiar circumstances -of his case created an interest in his behalf. -He was placed upon the same footing with the professed -Fathers; and two years later, in 1776, he was -promoted to the holy order of priesthood, and continued -to reside in Bologna, engaged in teaching and -in the duties of the ministry.<a id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a></p> - -<p>These good Fathers, with that traditionary instinct -which in their order has been the secret of their long -admitted success in the education of youth, were not -slow to discover the rare talents of their young scholar -in the Scuole Pie. In a short time he appears to -have become to them more a friend than a pupil. -Two, at least, of the members, Fathers Aponte, -and Thiulen, lived to witness the distinction of his -later life, and with them, as well as with his first and -kindest patron, Father Respighi, he ever continued to -maintain the most friendly and affectionate relations.<a id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a></p> - -<p>It would be interesting to be able to trace the -exact history of this period of the studies of Mezzofanti, -and to fix the dates and the order of his successive -acquisitions in what afterwards became the engrossing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> -pursuit of his life. But, unfortunately, so few -details can now be ascertained that it is difficult to -distinguish his school life from that of an ordinary -student. His chief teachers in the Scuole Pie appear -to have been the ex-Jesuit Fathers already named; -of whom Father Thiulen was his instructor in history, -geography, arithmetic, and mathematics;<a id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> -Father Aponte in Greek; and probably Father Escobar -in Latin. As he certainly learned Spanish at -an early period, it is not unlikely that he was indebted -for it, too, to the instructions of one of these -ecclesiastics, as also perhaps for some knowledge of -the Mexican or Central American languages.</p> - -<p>But although barren in details, all the accounts of -his school-days concur in describing his uniform success -in all his classes, and the extraordinary quickness -of his memory. One of his feats of memory is -recorded by M. Manavit.<a id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> A folio volume of the -works of St. John Chrysostom being put into his -hand, he was desired to read a page of the treatise -“<i>De Sacerdotio</i>” in the original Greek. After a -single reading, the volume was closed, and he repeated -the entire page, without mistaking or displacing -a single word! His manners and dispositions as a -boy were exceedingly engaging; and the friendships -which he formed at school continued uninterrupted during -life. Among his school companions there is one who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> -deserves to be especially recorded—the well-known -naturalist, Abate Camillo Ranzani, for many years -afterwards Mezzofanti’s fellow-professor in the university. -Ranzani, like his friend, was of very humble -origin, and like him owed his withdrawal from -obscurity to the enlightened benevolence of the good -Oratorian, F. Respighi.<a id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> Young Ranzani was -about the same age with Mezzofanti; and as their -homes immediately adjoined each other,<a id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> they had -been daily companions almost from infancy, and particularly -from the time when they began to frequent -the Scuole Pie in company. The constant allusions -to Ranzani which occur in Mezzofanti’s letters, will -show how close and affectionate their intimacy continued -to be.</p> - -<p>Joseph Mezzofanti early manifested a desire to -embrace the ecclesiastical profession; and although -this wish seems to have caused some dissatisfaction -to his father, who had intended him for some secular -pursuit,<a id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> yet the deeply religious disposition of the -child and his singular innocence of life, in the end -overcame his father’s reluctance. Having completed -his elementary studies unusually early, he was enabled -to become a scholar of the archiepiscopal seminary -of Bologna, while still a mere boy, probably in -the year 1786.<a id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> He continued, however, to reside<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> -in his father’s house, while he attended the schools -of the seminary.</p> - -<p>Of his collegiate career little is recorded, except -an incident which occurred at the taking of his degree -in philosophy. His master in this study was -Joseph Voglio, a professor of considerable reputation, -and author of several works on the philosophical -controversies of the period.<a id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> It is usual in the Italian -universities for the candidate for a philosophical -degree, to defend publicly a series of propositions -selected from the whole body of philosophy. Mezzofanti, -at the time that he maintained his theses, was -still little more than a child; and it would seem -that, his self-possession having given way under the -public ordeal, he had a narrow escape from the mortification -of a complete failure. One of the witnesses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> -of his “Disputation,” Dr. Santagata, in the Discourse -already referred to, delivered at the Institute -of Bologna, gives an interesting account of the occurrence. -“For a time,” says Dr. Santagata, “the boy’s -success was most marked. Each new objection, -among the many subtle ones that were proposed, -only afforded him a fresh opportunity of exhibiting -the acuteness of his intellect, and the ease, fluency, -and elegance of his Latinity; and the admiring murmurs -of assent, and other unequivocal tokens of applause -which it elicited from the audience, of which I -myself was one, seemed to promise a triumphant conclusion -of the exercise. But all at once the young -candidate was observed to grow pale, to become suddenly -silent, and at length to fall back upon his seat -and almost faint away. The auditors were deeply -grieved at this untoward interruption of a performance -hitherto so successful; but they were soon relieved -to see him, as if by one powerful effort, shake -off his emotion, recover his self-possession, and resume -his answering with even greater acuteness and -solidity than before. He was greeted with the loud -and repeated plaudits of the crowded assembly.”<a id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a></p> - -<p>About this period, soon after Mezzofanti had completed -his fifteenth year, his health gave way under -this long and intense application; and his constitution -for a time was so debilitated, that, at the termination -of his course of philosophy, he was compelled -to interrupt his studies;<a id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> nor was it until about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span> -1793, that he entered upon the theological course, -under the direction of the Canon Joachim Ambrosi. -One of his class-fellows, the Abate Monti, the venerable -arch-priest of Bagni di Poreta, in the archdiocese -of Bologna, still survives and speaks in high -terms of the ability which he exhibited. He describes -him as a youth of most engaging manners and amiable -dispositions—one who, from his habitually serious -and recollected air, might perhaps be noted by -strangers</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For his grave looks, too thoughtful for his years,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">but who, to his friends, was all gaiety and innocent -mirthfulness. Mgr. Monti adds that he was at this -time a most laborious student, frequently remaining -up whole nights in the library for the purpose of -study. His master in moral theology was the Canonico -Baccialli, author of a <i>Corpus Theologiæ Moralis</i>, -of some local reputation.</p> - -<p>Having completed the course of theology, and also -that of canon law, he attended the lectures of the -celebrated Jurist, Bonini, on Roman Law. The -great body of the students of the school of Roman -Law being laymen, the young ecclesiastic remained -a considerable time unobserved and undistinguished -in the class; until, having accidentally attracted the -notice of the professor on one occasion, he replied -with such promptness and learning to a question -which he addressed to him, as at once to establish a -reputation; and Dr. Santagata, who records the -circumstance,<a id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> observes that his proficiency in each -of his many different studies was almost as great as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> -though he had devoted his undivided attention to -that particular pursuit.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, however, he continued without interruption, -what, even thus early in his career, was his -chosen study of languages. Under the direction -of Father Aponte, now rather his friend and associate -than instructor in the study, he pursued his -Greek reading; and as this had been from the first -one of his favourite languages, there were few Greek -authors within his reach that he did not eagerly -read. Fortunately, too, Aponte was himself an -enthusiast in the study of Greek, and possessed a -solid and critical knowledge of the language, of which -he had written an excellent and practical grammar -for the schools of the university, frequently republished -since his time;<a id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> and it was probably to the -habit of close and critical examination which he acquired -under Aponte’s instruction, that Mezzofanti -owed the exact knowledge of the niceties of the language, -and the power of discriminating between all -the varieties of Greek style, for which, as we shall -see later, he was eminently distinguished.</p> - -<p>One of his fellow pupils in Greek under Aponte -was the celebrated Clotilda Tambroni, whom I have -already mentioned in the list of lady-linguists, and -whose name is the last in the catalogue of lady-professors -at Bologna. A community of tastes as well -as of studies formed a close bond of intimacy between -her and Mezzofanti, and led to an affectionate and -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span>lasting friendship in after life. To Aponte she was -as a daughter.<a id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a></p> - -<p>His master in Hebrew was the Dominican Father -Ceruti, a learned Orientalist and professor of that -language in the university. About the same time -also, he must have become acquainted with Arabic, a -language for the study of which Bologna had early -acquired a reputation. And, what is a still more -unequivocal exhibition of his early enthusiasm, although -Coptic formed no part of the circle of university -studies, Görres states that he learned this -language also under the Canon John Lewis Mingarelli.<a id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> -If this account be true, as Mingarelli died -in March 1793, Mezzofanti must have acquired -Coptic before he had completed his nineteenth year.</p> - -<p>Nor did he meanwhile neglect the modern languages. -About the year 1792, a French ecclesiastic -a native of Blois, one of those whom the successive -decrees of the Constituent Assembly had driven into -exile, came to reside in Bologna. From him Mezzofanti -speedily acquired French.<a id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> He received -his first lessons in German from F. Thiulen,<a id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> -had been one of his masters in the Scuole Pie; and -who, although a Swede by birth, was acquainted with -the cognate language of Germany. From him, -too, most probably, Mezzofanti would also have -learned his native Swedish, but, on the occupation -of northern Italy by the French, F. Thiulen, who -had made himself obnoxious to the revolutionary -party in Bologna, by his writings in favour of the -Papal authority, had been arrested and sent into -exile.<a id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> Perhaps Thiulen’s absence from Bologna was -the occasion of calling into exercise that marvellous -quickness in mastering the structure of a new language, -which often, during Mezzofanti’s later career, -excited the amazement even of his most familiar -friends. At all events, the first occasion of his exhibiting -this singular faculty of which I have been -able to discover any authentic record, is the -following:—</p> - -<p>A Bolognese musician, named Uttini, had settled -at Stockholm, where he married a Swedish lady. -Uttini, it would seem, died early; but his brother, -Caspar Uttini, a physician of Bologna, undertook -the education of his son, who was sent to Bologna for -the purpose. The boy, at his arrival, was not only -entirely ignorant of Italian, but could not speak a -word of any language except his native Swedish. -In this emergency Mezzofanti, who, although still a -student, had already acquired the reputation of a -linguist, was sent for, to act as interpreter between -the boy and his newly found relatives: but it turned -out that the language of the boy was, as yet, no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> -less a mystery to Mezzofanti than it had already -proved to themselves. This discovery, so embarrassing -to the family, served but to stimulate the zeal of -Mezzofanti. Having made a few ineffectual attempts -to establish an understanding, he asked to see the -books which the boy had brought with him from his -native country. A short examination of these books -was sufficient for his rapid mind; he speedily discovered -the German affinities of the Swedish language, -and mastered almost at a glance the leading peculiarities -of form, structure, and inflexion, by which it is -distinguished from the other members of the Teutonic -family; a few short trials with the boy enabled -him to acquire the more prominent principles of pronunciation; -and in the space of a few days, he was -able, not only to act as the boy’s interpreter with his -family, but to converse with the most perfect freedom -and fluency in the language!<a id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a></p> - -<p>Mezzofanti received the clerical tonsure in the -year 1795. In 1796 he was admitted to the minor -orders; and, on the 24th of September in the same -year, to the order of sub-deacon. On the first of -April, 1797, he was promoted to deaconship; and a -few months later he was advanced, on September -24th, 1797, to the holy order of priesthood.<a id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> At this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> -time he had only just completed his twenty-third -year.</p> - -<p>This anticipation of the age at which priesthood is -usually conferred, was probably owing to an appointment -which he had just received (on the 15th of -September,)<a id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> in the university—that of professor of -Arabic. Such an appointment at this unprecedented -age, is the highest testimony which could be rendered -to his capacity as a general scholar, as well as to his -eminence as a linguist.</p> - -<p>He commenced his lectures on the 15th of the -following December. Dr. Santagata, who was a -student of the university at the time, speaks very -favourably of his opening lecture, not only for its -learning and solidity, but also for the beauty of its -style, and its lucid and pleasing arrangement.<a id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a></p> - -<p>Unhappily his tenure of the Arabic professorship -was a very brief duration. The political relations -of Bologna had just undergone a complete revolution. -Early in 1796, very soon after the advance -of the French army into Italy, Bonaparte had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> -been invited by a discontented party in Bologna to -take possession of their city, and, in conjunction with -Saliceti, had occupied the fortresses on the 19th of January. -At first after the French occupation, the Bolognese -were flattered by a revival of their old municipal -institutions; but before the close of 1796, the name -of Bologna was merged in the common designation of -the Cisalpine Republic, by which all the French conquests -in Northern Italy were described. By the treaty -of Tolentino, concluded in February, 1797, the -Pope was compelled formally to cede to this new Cisalpine -Republic, the three Legations of Bologna, Ferrara, -and Romagna; and, in the subsequent organization -of the new territory, Bologna became the -capital of the Dipartimento del Reno.</p> - -<p>One of the first steps of the new rulers was to require -of all employés an oath of fidelity to the Republic. -The demand was enforced with great strictness; -and especially in the case of ecclesiastics, -who in Italy, as in France, were naturally regarded -with still greater suspicion by the Republican -authorities, than even those civil servants of the old -government who had been most distinguished for their -loyalty. Nevertheless the republican authorities themselves -consented that an exception should be made in -favour of a scholar of such promise as the Abate Mezzofanti. -The oath was proposed to him, as to the rest -of the professors. He firmly refused to take it. In -other cases deprivation had been the immediate consequence -of such refusal; but an effort was made to -shake the firmness of Mezzofanti, and even to induce -him without formally accepting the oath, to signify his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> -compliance by some seeming act of adhesion to the established -order of things. An intimation accordingly -was conveyed to him, that in his case the oath would -be dispensed with, and that he would be allowed to -retain his chair, if he would only consent to make -known by any overt act whatsoever, (even by a mere -interchange of courtesies with some of the officials of -the Republic,) his acceptance of its authority as now -established.<a id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> But Mezzofanti was at once too conscientious -to compromise what he conceived to be his -duty towards his natural sovereign, and too honourable -to affect, by such unworthy temporizing, a disposition -which he did not, and could not, honestly entertain. -He declined even to appear as a visitor in -the salons of the new governor. He was accordingly -deprived of his professorship in the year 1798.</p> - -<p>He was not alone in this generous fidelity. His -friend Signora Tambroni displayed equal firmness. -It is less generally known that the distinguished experimentalist, -Ludovico Galvani,<a id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> was a martyr in -the same cause. Like Mezzofanti, on refusing the -oath, he was stripped of all his offices and emoluments. -Less fortunate than Mezzofanti, he sunk -under the stroke. He was plunged into the deepest -distress and debility; and, although his Republican -rulers were at length driven by shame to decree his -restoration to his chair, the reparation came too -late. He died in 1798.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1798-1802.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>The years which followed this forfeiture of his professorship -were a period of much care, as well as of -severe personal privation, for the Abate Mezzofanti.</p> - -<p>Both his parents were still living;—his father no -longer able to maintain himself by his handicraft; -his mother for some years afflicted with partial blindness, -and in broken or failing health. The family of -his sister, Teresa Minarelli, had already become very -numerous, and the scanty earnings of her husband’s -occupation hardly sufficed for their maintenance, -much less for the expenses of their education. In -addition, therefore, to his own necessities, Joseph -Mezzofanti was now in great measure burdened with -this twofold responsibility—a responsibility to which -so affectionate a brother, and so dutiful a son could -not be indifferent. To meet these demands, he had -hitherto relied mainly upon the income arising from -his professorship, although this was miserably inadequate,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> -the salaries attached to the professorships in -Bologna, at the time when Lalande visited Italy, -(1765-6,) not exceeding a hundred Roman crowns, -(little more than £25). Small, however, as it was, -this salary was Mezzofanti’s main source of income. -As a title to ordination, the archbishop of Bologna, -Cardinal Giovanetti, had conferred upon him two -small benefices, the united revenues of which, strange -as it may sound in English ears, did not exceed eight -pounds sterling;<a id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> and an excellent ecclesiastic, F. -Anthony Magnani, who had long known and appreciated -the virtues of the family, and had taken a -warm interest in Joseph from his boyhood, settled -upon him from his own private resources about the -same amount. Now, as Mezzofanti had devoted himself -to literature, and lived as a simple priest at -Bologna, declining to accept any preferment to which -the care of souls was annexed, this wretched pittance -constituted his entire income. It is true that he -was about this period chaplain of the Collegio Albornoz,<a id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> -an ancient Spanish foundation of the great -Cardinal of that name;<a id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> but his services appear -either to have been entirely gratuitous, or the emolument, -if any, was little more than nominal.</p> - -<p>And thus, when the Abate Mezzofanti, relying<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span> -upon Providence, had the courage to throw up, for -conscience sake, the salary which constituted nearly -two-thirds of his entire revenue, he found himself -burdened with the responsibilities already described, -while his entire certain income was considerably less -than twenty pounds sterling! Nevertheless, gloomy -and disheartening as was this prospect, far from -suffering himself to be cast down by it, he was even -courageous enough to venture, about this time, on -the further responsibility of receiving his sister and -her family into his own house. The renewal of hostilities -in Italy, in 1799, filled him with alarm for -her security; and his nephew, Cavaliere Minarelli, -who has been good enough to communicate to me a -short MS. Memoir of the events of this period of his -uncle’s life, still remembers the day on which, while -the French and Austrian troops were actually engaged -before the walls, and the shot and shells had already -begun to fall within the city, his uncle came to their -house, at considerable personal risk, and insisted that -his sister and her children should remove to his own -house which was in a less exposed position. From that -date (1799) they continued to reside with him.</p> - -<p>To meet this increased expenditure, the Abate’s -only resource lay in that wearisome and ill-requited -drudgery in which the best years of struggling genius -are so often frittered away—private instruction. -He undertook the humble, but responsible, duties of -private tutor, and turned industriously, if not very -profitably, to account, the numerous acquisitions of -his early years. There are few of the distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> -families of Bologna, some of whose members were not -among his pupils—the Marescalchi, Pallavicini, -Ercolani, Martinetti, Bentivoglio, Marsigli, Sampieri, -Angelelli, Marchetti, and others. To these, as well -as to several foreigners, he gave instructions in -ancient and modern languages, to some in his own -apartments, but more generally in their houses.</p> - -<p>As regarded his own personal improvement in -learning, these engagements, of course, were, for the -most part, a wasteful expenditure of time and opportunities -for study; but there was one of them—that -with the Marescalchi family<a id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a>—which supplied in the -end an occasion for extending and improving his -knowledge of languages. The library of the Marescalchi -palace is especially rich in that department; -and, as the modest and engaging manners of Mezzofanti -quickly established him on the footing of a -valued friend, rather than of an instructor, in the -family, he enjoyed unrestricted use of the opportunities -for his own peculiar studies which it afforded. -In this family, too, one of the most ancient and -distinguished in Bologna, he had frequent opportunities -of meeting and conversing with foreigners, each -in the language of his own country.</p> - -<p class="tb">At all events, whatever may have been his actual -opportunities of study during the years which succeeded -his deprivation, it is certain that, upon the -whole, his progress during that time was not less -wonderful than at the most favoured periods of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> -life. Northern Italy, during this troubled time, was -the principal seat of the struggle between Austria -and the French Republic; and from the first advance -of the French in 1796, till the decisive field of -Marengo in 1800, Bologna found itself alternately in -the occupation of one or other of the contending -powers. For nearly twelve months, however, after -the battle of Trebbia, in July, 1799, the Austrians -remained in undisturbed possession. The army of -Austria at that day comprised in its motley ranks, -representatives of most of the leading European languages—Teutonic, -Slavonic, Czechish, Magyar, Romanic, -&c. The intercourse with the officers and -soldiery thus opened for Mezzofanti, in itself supplied -a school of languages, which, taken in conjunction -with the university, and its other resources, it would -have been difficult to find in any other single European -city, except Rome.</p> - -<p>And these advantages presented themselves to the -Abate Mezzofanti, since his advancement to the -priesthood, in a way which enlisted still higher -feelings than that desire for knowledge which had -hitherto formed his main incentive to study.</p> - -<p>All the accounts which have been preserved of the -early years of his ministry, concur in extolling his -remarkable piety, his devotedness to the duties of the -confessional,<a id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> and above all his active and tender charity. -He had a share in every work of benevolence. He -loved to organize little plans for the education of the -poor. Notwithstanding his numerous and pressing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span> -occupations, he was a constant visitant of the numerous -charitable institutions for which Bologna, even -among the munificent cities of Italy, has long been -celebrated. He was particularly devoted to the sick;—not -only to the class who are called in Italy “the -bashful poor,” whom he loved to seek out and visit at -their own houses, and to whom, poor as he was in -worldly wealth, his active benevolence enabled him -to render services which money could not have procured;—but -also in the public hospitals, both civil -and military. Now the terrible campaign of 1796-’97, -and again of 1799, had filled the camps of both -armies with sick and wounded soldiers; and thus -in the public hospitals of Bologna were constantly to -be found invalids of almost every European race. -M. Manavit<a id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> states that, even before Mezzofanti -was ordained priest, he had begun to act as interpreter -to the wounded or dying in the hospitals, whether -of their temporal or their spiritual wants and wishes. -From the date of his ordination, of course, he was -moved to the same service by a zeal still higher and -more holy.</p> - -<p>“I was at Bologna,” he himself told M. Manavit,<a id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> -“during the time of the war. I was then young in -the sacred ministry; it was my practice to visit the -military hospitals. I constantly met there Hungarians, -Slavonians, Germans, and Bohemians, who had -been wounded in battle, or invalided during the -campaign; and it pained me to the heart that from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> -want of the means of communicating with them, I was -unable to confess those among them who were Catholics, -or to bring back to the Church those who were -separated from her communion. In such cases, -accordingly, I used to apply myself, with all my -energy, to the study of the language of the patients, -until I knew enough of them to make myself understood; -I required no more. With these first rudiments -I presented myself among the sick wards. -Such of the invalids as desired it, I managed to confess; -with others I held occasional conversations; -and thus in a short time I acquired a considerable -vocabulary. At length, through the grace of God, -assisted by my private studies, and by a retentive -memory, I came to know, not merely the generic -languages of the nations to which the several invalids -belonged, but even the peculiar dialects of their -various provinces.”</p> - -<p>In this way, being already well acquainted with -German, he became master successively of Magyar, -Bohemian, or Czechish, Polish, and even of the Gipsy -dialect, which he learned from one of that strange -race, who was a soldier in a Hungarian regiment -quartered at Bologna during this period.<a id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> It is -probable, too, that it was in the same manner he also -learned Russian. It is at least certain that he was -able to speak that language fluently, at the date of -his acquaintance with the celebrated Suwarrow. Mezzofanti’s -report of the acquirements of this “remarkable -barbarian” differs widely from the notion then<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> -popularly entertained regarding him. He described -him as a most accomplished linguist, and a well-read -scholar. This report, it may be added, is fully -confirmed by the most recent authorities, and -Alison describes him as “highly educated, polished -in his manners, speaking and writing seven languages -with facility, and extensively read, especially upon -the art of war.”<a id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a></p> - -<p>It was about this time also that Mezzofanti -learned Flemish. He acquired that language from -a youth of Brussels, who came as a student to the -University of Bologna.<a id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a></p> - -<p>The reputation which he was thus gradually -establishing, of itself served to extend his opportunities -of exercise in languages. Every foreigner who -visited Bologna sought his society for the purpose of -testing personally the truth of the marvellous reports -which had been circulation. In these days Bologna -was the high road to Rome, and few visitors to that -capital failed to tarry for a short time at Bologna, -to examine the many objects of interest which it -contains. To all of these Mezzofanti found a ready -and welcome access. There were few with whom his -fertile vocabulary did not supply some medium of -communication; but, even when the stranger could -not speak any except the unknown tongue, Mezzofanti’s -ready ingenuity soon enabled him, as with the -patients in the hospital, to establish a system for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> -interchange of thought. A very small number of -leading words sufficed as a foundation; and the -almost instinctive facility with which, by a single -effort, he grasped all the principal peculiarities of the -structure of each new language, speedily enabled him -to acquire enough of the essential inflections of each -to enter on the preliminaries of conversation. For -his marvellous instinct of acquisitiveness this was -enough. The iron tenacity of his memory never let -go a word, a phrase, an idiom, or even a sound, -which it once had mastered.</p> - -<p>In his zeal for the extension of the circle of his -knowledge of languages, too, he pushed to the utmost -the valuable opportunities derivable from the converse -of foreigners. “The hotel-keepers,” he told M. -Manavit,<a id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> “were in the habit of apprising me of the -arrival of all strangers at Bologna. I made no difficulty -when anything was to be learned, about calling -on them, interrogating them, making notes of their -communications, and taking instructions from them -in the pronunciation of their respective languages. -A few learned Jesuits, and several Spaniards, Portuguese, -and Mexicans, who resided at Bologna, afforded -me valuable aid in learning both the ancient languages, -and those of their own countries. I made it -a rule to learn every new grammar, and to apply -myself to every strange dictionary that came within -my reach. I was constantly filling my head with -new words; and, whenever any new strangers, -whether of high or low degree, passed through<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> -Bologna, I endeavoured to turn them to account, -using the one for the purpose of perfecting my pronunciation, -and the other for that of learning the -familiar words and turns of expression. I must confess, -too, that it cost me but little trouble; for, in -addition to an excellent memory, God had blessed me -with an incredible flexibility of the organs of -speech.”</p> - -<p>Occasionally, too, he received applications from -merchants, bankers, and even private individuals, to -translate for them portions of their foreign correspondence -which chanced to be written in some of the -languages of less ordinary occurrence. In all such -cases, Dr. Santagata<a id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> says, Mezzofanti was the unfailing -resource; and his good nature was as ready -as his knowledge was universal. He cheerfully rendered -to every applicant every such assistance; and it -was his invariable rule never to accept any remuneration -whatsoever for this or any similar service.<a id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a></p> - -<p>Even his regular priestly duties as a confessor now -contributed, as his extraordinary duties in the hospitals -had done before, to enlarge his stock of languages. -He was soon marked out as the “foreigners’ confessor” -(<i>confessario dei forestieri</i>) of Bologna, an office which, -in Rome and other Catholic cities, is generally entrusted -to a staff consisting of many individuals. Almost -every foreigner was sure to find a ready resource in -Mezzofanti; though it more than once happened -that, as a preliminary step towards receiving the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> -confession of the party applying for this office of his -ministry, he had to place himself as a pupil in the -hands of the intending penitent, and to acquire from -him or her the rudiments of the language in which -they were to communicate with each other. The -process to him was simple enough. If the stranger -was able to repeat for him the Commandments, the -Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, or any one of -those familiar prayers which are the common property -of all Christian countries, or even to supply the names -of a few of the leading ideas of Christian theology, as -God, sin, virtue, earth, heaven, hell, &c., it was sufficient -for Mezzofanti. In many cases he proceeded -to build, upon a foundation not a whit more substantial -than this, the whole fabric of the grammar, and to a -great extent even of the vocabulary, of a language. -A remarkable instance of this faculty I shall have to -relate in the later years of his life. Another, which -belongs to the present period, has been communicated -to me by Cardinal Wiseman. “Mezzofanti told me,” -says his Eminence, “that a lady from the island of -Sardinia once came to Bologna, bringing with her a -maid who could speak nothing but the Sardinian -dialect, a soft patois composed of Latin, Italian, and -Spanish (e.g., Mezzofanti told me that <i>columba mia</i> -is Sardinian for “my wife.”) As Easter approached -the girl became anxious and unhappy about confession, -despairing of finding a confessor to whom she should -be able to make herself understood. The lady sent -for Mezzofanti; but at that time he had never -thought of learning the language. He told the lady,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> -nevertheless, that, in a fortnight, he would be prepared -to hear her maid’s confession. She laughed at -the idea; but Mezzofanti persisted, and came to the -house every evening for about an hour. When Easter -arrived, he was able to speak Sardinian fluently, and -heard the girl’s confession!”</p> - -<p class="tb">It might be instructive to trace the order in which -the several languages which he mastered in this earlier -part of his career were successively acquired. But -unfortunately neither the papers and letters which -have been preserved, nor the recollections of the few -friends who have survived, have thrown much light -upon this interesting inquiry. All accounts, however, -agree in representing his life during these years as -laborious almost beyond belief. The weary hours -occupied in the drudgery of tuition; the time given -to the manifold self-imposed occupations described in -this chapter; the time spent in the ordinary devotional -exercises of a priest, and in the performance of those -duties of the ministry in the hospitals and elsewhere -which he had undertaken; above all, the time regularly -and perseveringly given to his great and all-engrossing -study of languages;—may well be thought -to form an aggregate of laborious application hardly -surpassed in the whole range of literary history. It -fully confirms the well-known assurance of the noble -Prologue of Bacon’s “Advancement of Learning:” -“Let no man doubt that learning will expulse business, -but rather it will keep and defend the possession -of the mind against idleness and pleasure, which -otherwise may enter at unawares to the prejudice of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> -both.” Other students may perhaps have devoted a -longer time to continuous application. The celebrated -Jesuit theologian, Father Suarez, is said to have spent -seventeen hours out of the twenty-four between his -studies and his devotions. Castell, the author of -the Heptaglot Lexicon, declares, in the feeling address -which accompanied its publication, that his thankless -and unrequited task had occupied him for sixteen or -eighteen hours every day during twenty years.<a id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> -Theophilus Raynaud, during his long life of eighty -years, only allowed himself a quarter of an hour daily -from his studies for dinner;<a id="FNanchor_313" href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> and the Puritan divine, -Prynne, seldom would spare time to dine at all.<a id="FNanchor_314" href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> It -may be doubted whether the actual labour of Mezzofanti, -broken up and divided over so many almost -incompatible occupations, did not equal and perhaps -exceed them all in amount, if not in intensity. -According to the account of Guido Görres,<a id="FNanchor_315" href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> his -time for sleep, during this period of his life, was -limited to three hours.<a id="FNanchor_316" href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> His self-denial in all other<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> -respects was almost equally wonderful. He was -singularly abstemious both in eating and in drinking; -and his power of enduring the intense cold which -prevails in the winter months throughout the whole -of Northern Italy, especially in the vicinity of the -Apennines, was a source of wonder even to his own -family. During the long nights which he devoted -to study he never, even in the coldest weather, permitted -himself the indulgence of a fire.</p> - -<p>I may here mention that he continued the same -practice to the end of his life. Even after his elevation -to the cardinalate, he could hardly ever be induced -to have recourse to a fire, or even to the little portable -brazier, called <i>scaldino</i>, which students in Italy -commonly employ, as a resource against the numbness -of the feet and hands produced by the dry but piercing -cold which characterizes the Italian winter.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1803-1806.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>From the commencement of 1803, those difficulties -of the Abate Mezzofanti’s position, which merely arose -from the straitness of his income, began gradually -to diminish. On the 29th of January in that year -he was appointed assistant librarian of the <i>Istituto</i> -of Bologna; one of those munificent literary institutions -of which Italy is so justly proud, founded in -the end of the seventeenth century by the celebrated -General Count Marsigli, and enriched by the munificence -of many successive scholars and citizens of -Bologna; especially of the great Bolognese Pope, -Benedict XIV. Its collections and museums are -among the finest in Italy; and the library contains -above a hundred and fifty thousand volumes.</p> - -<p>But whatever of pecuniary advantage he derived -from this appointment, was perhaps more than counterbalanced -by the constant demand upon his time -from the charge of so extensive a library: especially as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> -he confesses that, up to that period, he had seldom -bestowed a thought on the study of bibliography. -To add to the ordinary engagements of librarian, too, -it was determined, sometime after Mezzofanti’s appointment, -to prepare a Catalogue Raisonné, in which -the Oriental and Greek department naturally fell to -his share. For the Oriental department of the -library there seems, up to this time, to have been no -catalogue, or at least an exceedingly imperfect and -inaccurate one; and as a definite time was fixed for -the completion of the task, it became for Mezzofanti -a source of serious and protracted embarrassment, to -which he alludes more than once in his correspondence.</p> - -<p>A more congenial occupation, however, was offered -to him soon afterwards. In the end of the same year, -he was restored to his former position in the university. -On the 4th of November in that year, he was -appointed Professor of Oriental Languages;—a place -which he was enabled to hold in conjunction with his -office in the Library of the Institute.</p> - -<p>A few months after his installation, he read at the -university, June 23rd, 1804, on the occasion of conferring -degrees, the first public dissertation of which -I have been able to discover any record. The subject -was “The Egyptian Obelisks.” The dissertation -itself has been lost; but Count Simone Stratico, of -Pavia, to whom we owe the notice of its delivery, -speaks of it as “most judicious and learned,” and -replete with antiquarian erudition.<a id="FNanchor_317" href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span></p> - -<p>The Oriental Professorship in the neighbouring -University of Parma, was at this time held by the -celebrated John Bernard de Rossi. Mezzofanti had -long desired to form the acquaintance of this distinguished -Orientalist; and more than once projected -a visit to Parma, for the purpose of placing himself -in communication with him on the subject of his -favourite study. His duties as assistant Librarian -at length afforded the desired opportunity. Having -occasion to order some of De Rossi’s works from -Parma, he addressed to De Rossi himself a letter -which soon led to a warm and intimate friendship, -and was the commencement of an interesting, although -not very frequent, correspondence, which continued, -at irregular intervals, up to the time of De Rossi’s -death. Some of Mezzofanti’s letters to De Rossi, -which are preserved in the Library of Parma, have -been kindly placed at my disposal. They are -chiefly interesting as throwing some light on the -progress of his studies.</p> - -<p>The first is dated September 15th, 1804—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center"><i>To the Abate John Bernard de Rossi, Professor of Oriental -Languages.</i></p> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, September 15, 1804.</i></p> - -<p>Most illustrious Signor Abate.—I have long admired and -profited by your rare acquirements, which your learned works have -made known all over Europe; and I have, for some time, been -projecting a visit to Parma, for the double purpose of tendering to -you a personal assurance of my esteem, and of examining your -far-famed library. Finding my hope disappointed for the present, -I take advantage of a favourable opportunity to offer -you, at least in writing, some expression of the profound respect<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> -which I feel for one so distinguished in the same studies which I -myself pursue with great ardour, although with very inferior -success. I am desirous also to procure those of your works -marked nos. 22, 24, 25, and 26, in the catalogue kindly forwarded -by you through Professor Ranzani. Pray give to the -bearer of this letter any of the above numbers which may be in -readiness: he will immediately settle for them.</p> - -<p>May I venture to hope that, for the future, you will allow -me, when any difficulty occurs to me in my Oriental reading, -to have recourse to your profound knowledge of Oriental literature, -and also that you will accept the sincere assurance of the -esteem with which I declare myself</p> - -<p class="center">Your most humble and devoted servant</p> - -<p class="right">D. Joseph Mezzofanti,<br> -Professor of Oriental Languages.</p> - -</div> - -<p>De Rossi replied by an exceedingly courteous -letter, accompanied by a present of several books -connected with Oriental literature, and manifesting -so friendly an interest in the studies of his young -correspondent, that Mezzofanti never afterwards -hesitated to consult him when occasion arose. Their -letters, in accordance with the ceremonious etiquette -which characterizes all the correspondence of that -period, are somewhat stiff and formal; but their -intercourse was marked throughout by an active -and almost tender interest upon the one side, and a -respectful but yet affectionate admiration upon the -other.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, however, Mezzofanti’s own increasing -reputation led to his being frequently consulted upon -difficulties of the same kind. On one of these—a -book in some unknown character which had been -sent for his examination by Monsignor Bevilacqua,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> -a learned prelate at Ferrara—he, in his turn, consults -De Rossi. His letter is chiefly curious as -showing (what will appear strange to our modern -philologers) that up to this date Mezzofanti was -entirely unacquainted with Sanscrit. The importance -of that language and the wide range of its relations, -which Frederic Schlegel was almost the first to -estimate aright, were not at this time fully appreciated.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center"><i>To Professor Ab. John Bernard De Rossi.</i></p> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, February 4, 1805.</i></p> - -<p>The works which I lately received from you have only served -to confirm the estimate of your powers which I had formed from -those with which I was previously acquainted; while the obliging -letter and valuable present which accompanied them, equally -convinced me of the kindness of your heart. May I hope that -this kindness, as well as your profound erudition, may establish -for me a title to claim the permission which I solicited in my -last letter? I venture, therefore, to enclose to you a printed -page in unknown characters, which the owner of the original, -Mgr. Alessandro Bevilacqua of Ferrara, tells me has been already -examined by several savants, but to no purpose. The book -comes originally from Congo;<a id="FNanchor_318" href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> having been brought thence to -Ferrara by a Capuchin of the same respectable family. Being -full of the idea of Sanscrit, to which I earnestly long to apply -myself as soon as I shall find means for the study, I was at -first inclined to suspect that this might be the Sanscrit character; -but this is a mere fancy of mine, or at best a guess. I look, -therefore, to your more extensive knowledge for a satisfactory -solution of the doubt; and meanwhile pray you to accept the -assurance of my sincere gratitude and esteem.</p> - -</div> - -<p>This correspondence with De Rossi, also, shows -very remarkably that, however, at a later period of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> -his career, Mezzofanti’s wonderful faculty of language -may have been sharpened by practice into what -appears almost an instinct, his method of study at -this time was exact, laborious, and perhaps even -plodding. He appears, from the very first, to have -pursued as a means of study that system of written -composition which was the amusement of his later -years; and he occasionally availed himself of De -Rossi’s superior knowledge and experience so far as -to submit these compositions for his judgment and -correction.</p> - -<p>It is to one of these he alludes in the following -letter:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, April 15, 1805.</i></p> - -<p>I send you a translation in twelve languages of a short Latin -sentence, in the hope that you will kindly correct any mistakes -into which I may have fallen. I have been obliged to write it -almost impromptu (<i>su due piedi</i>). I mention this, however, not to -excuse my own blunders, but to throw the blame of them on -those who have forced me to the task. Not having a single -individual within reach with whom to take counsel, I have been -obliged to impose this trouble upon one whose kind courtesy -will make it seem light to him. Accept my thanks in anticipation -of your compliance.</p> - -<p>P. S. I should feel obliged if you could let me have your -observations by return of post. Pray attribute this, perhaps -excessive, liberty to the peculiar circumstances in which I am -placed.</p> - -</div> - -<p>I have in vain endeavoured to ascertain what were -the twelve languages of this curious essay. As no -trace of the copy is now to be found among De Rossi’s -papers, it seems probable that De Rossi, in complying -with the request contained in the letter, returned the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> -paper to the writer with his own corrections. But -whatever these “twelve languages” may have been, -it is certain that, even at the date of this letter, Mezzofanti’s -attainments were by no means confined to -that limit. My attention has been called to a notice -of him contained in a curious, though little-known -work, published at Milan in 1806,<a id="FNanchor_319" href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> which describes -his range of languages as far more extensive.</p> - -<p>The work to which I refer is the narrative of an -occurrence, which, although not uncommon even down -to a later date, it is difficult now-a-days,—since Islam -has ceased to</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">——————————wield, as of old, her thirsty lance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shake her crimson plumage to the skies,—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">to realize as an actual incident of the nineteenth -century;<a id="FNanchor_320" href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a>—the adventures of an amateur antiquarian, -who was made captive by Corsairs and carried into -Barbary. The hero of this adventure was a Milanese -ecclesiastic, Father Felix Caronni. He embarked -at Palermo for Naples, in a small merchant vessel -laden with oranges, but had scarcely quitted the shore -when a pirate-ship hove in sight. The crew, as -commonly happened in such cases, took to the boat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> -and escaped, leaving Father Caronni and eighteen -other passengers to the mercy of the Corsairs, who -speedily overpowered the defenceless little vessel. -Caronni, as a subject of the Italian Republic and a -French citizen,<a id="FNanchor_321" href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> would have been secured against -capture; but his passport was in the hands of the -captain who had escaped; and thus, notwithstanding -his protestations, he was seized along with the rest, -and, under circumstances of great cruelty and indignity, -they were all carried into Tunis. Here, however, at -the reclamation of the French, supported by the -Austrian Consul, Father Caronni was saved from the -fate which awaited the rest of the captives—of being -sold into slavery,—and at the end of three months, -(part of which he devoted to the exploration of the antiquities<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> -of Tunis and the surrounding district,) he -was set at liberty and permitted to return to Italy.</p> - -<p>Being at a loss, while preparing the narrative of -his captivity for publication, for a translation of the -papers which he received at Tunis when he was set -at liberty, he had recourse to the assistance of the -Abate Mezzofanti, as he explains in the following -passage.</p> - -<p>“No sooner,” says he, “had I obtained the <i>Tiscara</i><a id="FNanchor_322" href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> -[passport,] than I made an exact copy of it (with the -exception of the Bey’s seal,) in the precise dimensions -of the original. It was not so easy, however, to -obtain a translation of this document in Italy, both -because it had been hastily written with a reed—the -instrument which the Moors employ for that purpose—and -because there were introduced into it certain -ciphers which are peculiar to the Arabs of Barbary. -These difficulties, however, were happily overcome, -thanks to the exceeding courtesy, as well as the distinguished -learning of the Abate Mezzofanti, Professor -of Oriental Languages in the Institute of Bologna, who -is commonly reputed to be master of more than twenty-four -languages, the greater number of which he speaks -with fluency and purity. He has favoured me (in four<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> -long letters which contain as much information as might -supply a whole course of lectures) with a literal and -critically exact version of it, accompanied by copious -explanations, as also by a free translation in the following -terms:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">“‘THERE IS BUT ONE GOD, AND MAHOMET IS HIS PROPHET.’</p> - -<p>“‘We have liberated Father Felix Caronni. He is hereby -permitted to embark from Goletta for the country of the Christians, -at the intervention of the French Consul, through the -medium of his Dragoman, in consideration of the payment of -ninety-nine sequins mahbub, and by the privilege of the -mighty and generous Hamudah<a id="FNanchor_323" href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> Basha Bey, Ben-Dani, whom -may God prosper!</p> - -<p class="right">“Second Giomada, in the year 1219.’</p> - -</div> - -<p>“<i>Giomada</i><a id="FNanchor_324" href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> is the name of the sixth month of the -Arabs, and the year indicated is the year of their -Hegira.<a id="FNanchor_325" href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> And, as the Oriental writing runs in the -reverse order to ours, (that is, from right to left,) it -is necessary, in order that the words of the translation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> -may correspond with those of the original, to take -the precaution of reading it backwards, or, what will -answer the same purpose, in a mirror. What will -strike the reader, however, as most strange, (as it -did myself when first the Tiscara was translated for -me) is its particularizing the ‘payment of ninety-nine -gold mahbubs,’ which, at the rate of nine <i>lire</i> -to each, would make eight hundred and ninety-one -Milanese <i>lire</i>: whereas this is utterly false as far as -I am personally concerned, and the French commissary -did not give me the least intimation of any payment -whatever. The Abate Mezzofanti suggests -with much probability, that it may be a part of the -<i>stylus curiæ</i> of these greedy barbarians to boast in -their piratical diplomacy that no Christian, and still -more no ecclesiastic, has ever been made captive by -them without being, even though a Frank, supposed -to be a lawful prize, and consequently without being -made ‘to bleed’ a little.”<a id="FNanchor_326" href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a></p> - -<p>This is the first published notice of Mezzofanti which -has come under my observation; and it is particularly -interesting as an early example of his habit of -cultivating not only the principal languages, but -the minor varieties of each. The knowledge that, -when he had barely completed his thirtieth year, he -was reputed to be master of <i>more than twenty-four -languages</i>, may perhaps prepare us to regard with less -incredulity the marvels which we shall find related -of his more advanced career.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span></p> - -<p>In the autumn of the same year the Abate -Mezzofanti paid his long-intended visit to Parma and -De Rossi. The Italians, and especially the literary -men of Italy, are proverbially bad travellers. Magliabecchi -never was outside of the gates of Florence in -his life, except on two occasions;—once as far as -Fiesole, which may almost be called a suburb of the -city, and once again to a distance of ten miles. -Many an Italian Professor has passed an entire life -without any longer excursion than the daily walk from -his lodgings to the lecture-room. Even the great -geographer, D’Anville, who lived to the age of eighty-five, -is said never to have left his native city, Paris;<a id="FNanchor_327" href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> -and yet he was able to point out many errors in the -plan of the Troad made upon the spot by the Comte -de Choiseul. It has been frequently alleged of Mezzofanti, -also, as enhancing still more the marvel of his -acquirements in languages, that, until his fortieth -year, he had never quitted his native city. That this -statement is not literally true appears from a letter -which he wrote to the Abate de Rossi, on his return -to Bologna, after the visit to which I have alluded.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Pressed as I am, by my many occupations,” he says, -November 11, 1805, “I cannot delay writing at least a few -lines, in grateful acknowledgment of the kindnesses which I received -from you during my happy sojourn in your city.</p> - -<p>“I had been prepared for this, as well by the reports of others -regarding your amiable disposition, as by the courtesy which -I had myself experienced; but all my anticipations had fallen -far short of the reality. Feeling that it is impossible for me to -offer you a suitable acknowledgment, I beg that, although I -have neither words to express it, nor means of giving it effect,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> -you will believe me to be deeply sensible of my obligation to you. -I shall preserve all your valued presents with most jealous care. -The ‘Persian Anthology’<a id="FNanchor_328" href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> has been greatly relished by all here -who apply to the study of that language.</p> - -<p>“I shall often have to claim your indulgence for the trouble which -I shall not fail to give you. After the many proofs I have had of -your kindness, I feel that I should be offending you, were I to -ask you to let me hope to reckon myself henceforward among -your friends.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The friendly courtesy of the Abate De Rossi -rendered Mezzofanti’s stay at Parma exceedingly -agreeable. One of the friends whom he made during -this visit, the learned and venerable Librarian of the -Ducal Library of that city, Cavaliere Angelo Pezzana, -still survives, and still speaks with an affection which -borders upon tenderness of the friendship which resulted -from their first meeting, and which was the -pride of his later life. Among the subjects of their -conversation, Cavaliere Pezzana particularly remembers -some observations of Mezzofanti on certain affinities -between the Russian and Latin languages, which -struck him by their acuteness and originality.</p> - -<p>A commission which M. Pezzana gave him at his -departure led to the following letter:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, November 11, 1805.</i></p> - -<p>In the hope of being able to execute the little commission you -gave me regarding the Aldine edition of Aristotle, I have put off -writing until I should have searched in our Library.—On doing -so, I find that I have been mistaken, as there is no copy of that -edition here. I avail myself, however, of this opportunity to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> -renew the assurance of my gratitude for the numberless kindnesses -which you shewed me during the time it was my good fortune -to be in your society;—kindnesses which I never can forget, and -for which it is my most anxious desire to find some opportunity of -making you a return. I beg you to present my respects to Dr. Tommasini, -and to offer to Signor Bodoni and his lady my acknowledgments -for their great courtesy. Should any occasion arise in -which my humble services can be of use, I shall consider myself -happy, if you will always put aside every idea of my occupations, -and will honour me with your valued commands. Meanwhile -accept the assurance of my sincere esteem and attachment.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Mezzofanti’s intimacy with the two gentlemen -named in this letter, Tommasini and Bodoni, was lasting -and sincere. Tommasini, although an eminent -physician of Parma and an active member of most of -the scientific societies of his day, is little known outside -of Italy: but Bodoni, the celebrated printer and -publisher of Parma, whose magnificent editions of -the classics are still among the treasures of -every great library, was a man of rare merit, -and a not unworthy representative of the learned -fathers of his craft, the Stephens, the Manuzi, -and Plantins of the palmy days of typography. He -was a native of Saluzzo in the kingdom of Sardinia. -His early taste for wood-engraving induced him to -visit Rome for the purpose of study: and he set out -in company with a school-fellow, whose uncle held -some office in the Roman court. Bodoni supported -himself and his companion upon the way by the sale -of his little engravings, which are now prized as curiosities -in the art. On their arrival, however, being -coldly received by the friend on whom they -had mainly relied, they resolved to return home; but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> -before leaving Rome, Bodoni paid a visit to the printing-office -of the Propaganda, where he had the good -fortune to attract the notice of the Abate Ruggieri, -then director of that great press. He thus obtained -employment in the establishment, and at the same -time was permitted to attend the Oriental Schools -of the Sapienza; and thus having learned Hebrew and -Arabic, he was employed exclusively upon the Oriental -works printed by the Propaganda. The excellence -and accuracy of the editions of the <i>Missale Arabico-Coptum</i>, -and the <i>Alphabetum Tibetanum</i> of Padre -Giorgi which Bodoni printed, excited universal admiration; -and when, on occasion of the tragical death of -his friend and patron Ruggieri, he resolved to leave -Rome, he was earnestly invited to settle in England: -but he accepted in preference an invitation to Parma, -where he was appointed Director of the Ducal Press, -and where all the well-known master-pieces of his art -were successively produced. Himself a man of much -learning, and of a highly cultivated mind, he enjoyed -the friendship of most of the literati of Italy.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A knowledge both of books and human kind—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">his conversation was in the highest degree entertaining -and instructive; and his correspondence, which has -been published, is full of interest. With the Abate -De Rossi, who employed his press in all his Oriental -publications,<a id="FNanchor_329" href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> he was for years on terms of the closest<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> -intimacy; and during Mezzofanti’s visit to Parma, -he treated De Rossi’s young disciple with a courtesy -which Mezzofanti long and gratefully remembered. -Bodoni’s wife, who, upon his death in 1813, succeeded -to his vast establishment, was, like her husband, -highly cultivated, and a most amiable and excellent -woman.</p> - -<p>Among the languages which occupied Mezzofanti -at this time, Persian appears to have received the -principal share of his attention. One of the first -presents which he received from De Rossi was, as we -have seen, a “Persian Anthology;” and in a letter to -De Rossi, written early in 1806 (which Cavaliere -Pezzana has published in the Modena Journal, -<i>Memorie di Religione</i>,) he expresses much anxiety -to obtain a copy of the great Persian classic, Kemal -Eddin.</p> - -<p>The same letter, however, contains another request -from which it may be inferred that much of his -time was still drawn away from these studies by his -duties as librarian. Speaking of the catalogue then -in preparation, he complains of the miserably defective -condition of the library in the department of -Bibliography; and begs of his correspondent to send -him the titles of the <i>Bibliotheca</i> of Hottinger, (perhaps -his <i>Promptuarium, seu Bibliotheca Orientalis</i>, Heidelberg, -1658) and that of Wolff, in order that he may -provide himself with these works, as a guide in his -task.</p> - -<p>On this subject he speaks more explicitly in a letter -of the 3rd of March, in the same year. After alluding -to a commission of De Rossi’s which he had failed in -executing, he proceeds:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>The preparation of the Catalogue keeps me in constant occupation, -because these Oriental books are for the most part without -the name of the author or the title of the work. Their value, -that is to say their scientific importance, bears no proportion to -the labour they cost; inasmuch as they are all Grammatical -Treatises, books of Law, and such like. However, should I meet -any work of interest, I shall not fail to communicate it to you; -although, I fancy, it will be difficult to meet with anything that -you do not know already.</p> - -<p>I received from Vienna immediately on its publication, the -Grammar of the learned Dombay,<a id="FNanchor_330" href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> who is well known for other -works, particularly upon the language and history of Morocco. -It happens that I have got two copies of it; and I have set -one of them apart for you, for which you may perhaps give me -in exchange one of your own duplicates. It contains the -Grammar arranged after the manner of the Latin Grammarians; -the rules of Persian according to Meninski,<a id="FNanchor_331" href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> with this advantage, -that here they are given in consecutive order, whereas in Meninski -they are found mixed up with those of the Arabic and Turkish. -Your friend, M. Silvestre de Sacy, reviewed it in the <i>Magazin -Encyclopedique</i>, and took exception to Dombay’s reducing the -Persian to the system of the Latin Grammar. I hope shortly -to receive the other from Leipsic, as also the tales of Nizami, in -Persian and Latin, printed by Wolff, and published by L. Hill, -who promised for the same year, 1802, an edition of the -<i>Divan</i> of Hafiz.<a id="FNanchor_332" href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a></p> - -<p>I am only waiting for a safe opportunity to forward your -books. We cannot fail of one in the coming spring. As to the -“Oriental Anthology,” I have given it in charge to the courier as -far as Milan, but have not yet heard intelligence of it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span></p> - -<p>Book-buying is undoubtedly very troublesome, and the least -disagreeable part of it is the money the books cost, although in -Oriental works I always find this excessive. I beg you not to -spare me whenever any occasion offers in which my services may -be useful.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The Abate de Rossi had requested to be furnished -with a note of the principal Oriental MSS. of the -Bologna collection; but Mezzofanti’s labour in preparing -the general Catalogue was so great, and the time -fixed for its completion was so entirely inadequate, -that, for a considerable time, he was unable to comply -with his friend’s request. It is to this he alludes in -the following letter, dated May 11, 1806. After -apologizing for the delay in forwarding the book referred -to in the letter of March 3rd, he proceeds:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>My labour at the Catalogue still continues, nor can I hope -at the period appointed for its close, to have done more than -merely sketch it out;—that is, we shall have nothing entered but -the bare titles of the works. This, however, in itself, is a task so -difficult in our Oriental MSS., that, up to the present time, it has -never been satisfactorily done. Besides the Oriental books, I -have also to deal with the Greek; and all must be in readiness -within the coming month. The truth is that I should require a -year at least to give a proper shape to my labour, and in the -beginning my impression was that it would require two. And in my -present difficulty, what gives me most pain is that I am not able to -send you, as early as I could wish, the note which you have often -expressed a wish to obtain; but I shall send it the very first moment -in my power.</p> - -<p>I have received your new work,<a id="FNanchor_333" href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> for which I beg you to accept -my best thanks. I did not write at the moment, knowing you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> -do not like very frequent letters; I have besides too much respect -for time devoted like yours to the honour of Italy, on which your -works in Oriental literature have shed a lustre. I long nevertheless -for a fitting opportunity to prove to you the sincerity of -my gratitude.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Under this constant and protracted labour Mezzofanti’s -health began to give way. His chest was -seriously threatened during the summer of 1806, -and had it not been that he fortunately obtained an -extension of the time allotted for the completion of -his task at the Catalogue, it is not unlikely that his -constitution, naturally weak, might have been permanently -enfeebled. Family cares, too, formed no inconsiderable -part of his burden. The health of his -mother, which had for a long time been very uncertain, -was completely broken down. She was now -entirely blind. For many weeks of this season he -was in daily apprehension of her death; and, in the -pressure of his engagements, his hours of attendance -on her sick bed were subtracted from the time -hitherto devoted to rest, already sufficiently curtailed.</p> - -<p>In the midst of these cares and occupations, Mezzofanti -was surprised by a flattering invitation to -transfer his residence to Paris, with a promise of -patronage and distinction from the Emperor Napoleon, -who was at this time eagerly engaged in plans for -the development of the literary and artistic glories -of his capital. More than one of Mezzofanti’s -countrymen were already in the enjoyment of high -honours at Paris. First among them may be named -Volta, for many years Professor of Natural Philosophy -in the University of Pavia. More pliant than his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> -great fellow-discoverer, Galvani, or perhaps more -favourably circumstanced as not being, like him, a -member of a Papal University, he had escaped the -proscription which brought Galvani to his grave—one -of those victims of loyalty whom Petrarch declares</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">————assai più belli</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Con la lor povertà, che Mida o Crasso</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Con l’oro, ond’ a virtù furon ribelli;—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Volta was called from Pavia to Paris, where he was -rewarded with distinctions, emoluments, titles, and, -more flattering than all, with the personal notice and -patronage of the great conqueror himself, who was -often present at his experiments, and displayed a warm -interest in the results to which they led.<a id="FNanchor_334" href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a></p> - -<p>Such were at this period the tempting rewards of -scientific or literary eminence in France. Moreover, -Count Marescalchi, in whose family Mezzofanti had -acted as tutor and librarian during the years of his deprivation, -was now Resident Minister of the Kingdom -of Italy at Paris. The Count’s intercourse with Mezzofanti -was but little interrupted by their separation; -and, even during his residence in Paris, the latter continued -to correspond with him; chiefly on matters -connected with the education of his children, or -with the completion or extension of his noble library. -The extent of their intimacy indeed may be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> -inferred from one of Mezzofanti’s letters to the Count, -dated September 16, 1806, in which we find him -freely employing the services of the minister in procuring -books at Paris, not only for himself but for his -literary friends in Bologna.<a id="FNanchor_335" href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a></p> - -<p>It was through this Count Marescalchi that the invitation -to Paris was conveyed to Mezzofanti, and it -cannot be doubted that it was accompanied by a warm -recommendation from the Count himself. No trace -of this formal correspondence is now discoverable; -but probably far more interesting, as it is certainly -far more characteristic, than the official letter or reply, -is the following playful letter to one of Count Marescalchi’s -sons, Carlino (Charlie), Mezzofanti’s former -pupil—now the representative of the house—who had -written a special letter, to add the expression of his -own wishes to those of his father, that his old instructor -should join them once again at Paris.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, September 16, 1806.</i></p> - -<p>But three letters, dearest Charlie, in an entire year—two from -Lyons, and one from Paris—to cheer my regrets in being separated -from you! If I were to take this as the measure of your -love for me, I should indeed have reason to be sad. But I have -abundant other proofs of your feelings in my regard; and at all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> -events, I am not one who can afford to be too rigid in insisting -upon the frequency of correspondence, unless I wish to furnish -grave grounds of complaint against myself.</p> - -<p>Few, however, as your letters have been, I am deeply grateful -for their warm and affectionate sentiments, which carry with them -such an evidence of sincerity as to leave me, even when you do -not write, no ground for doubting what your feelings still are towards -me. I am not sure whether in your regard I shall be equally -fortunate; for I am fully sensible that I have not the power of -infusing into what I write all the warmth and sincerity that I -really feel. However, you are not dependent on my words, in -order to be satisfied of the truth of my affection; and, knowing it -as you do, even a lesser token of it than this will suffice to convince -you.</p> - -<p>I am still here at Bologna following the same old round of -occupations. Nor am I dissatisfied with my lot, for I am quite -sensible of my inability to take a loftier flight. I feel that -the shade suits me best. Were I to go to Paris, I should be -obliged to set myself up upon some candlestick, where I should -only give out a faint and flickering gleam, which would soon die -utterly away. Nevertheless I am not the less grateful for your -advice; though I perceive that you are dissatisfied with me -because I am such a little fellow.</p> - -<p>A thousand, thousand greetings to your dear little sisters. -Renew my remembrance to your father, and when you have an -occasional moment of leisure from your tasks, pray bestow it upon</p> - -<p class="center">Your sincere friend,</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">D. Joseph Mezzofanti</span>.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Besides the unaffected modesty and the distrust of -his own fitness for a prominent position (even with -such advantages as those offered to him at Paris,) -which are expressed in this letter, the Abate Mezzofanti -was also moved to decline the invitation, both by -affection for his native city and love of its university<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> -life (to which we shall find him looking back with -fondness even after his elevation to the cardinalate,) -and by unwillingness to part from his family, to whom -he was tenderly attached. To the latter he had -always felt himself bound by duty as well as by affection. -The expense of the education of his sister’s -children, who at this time, (as appears from a little -Memoir in the archives of the University drawn up -in 1815,) were seven in number, amounted to a considerable -sum. They, as well as their parents, still -continued to reside in his house; and the same -Memoir alludes to another near relative who was at -least partially dependent upon him for support.</p> - -<p>To these children, indeed, he was as a father. -Cavaliere Minarelli, in the interesting note already -cited, describes him as “most affectionately devoted -to them, and uniting in his manners the loving -familiarity of a friend with the graver authority -of an instructor.” In his brief intervals of -leisure from business or study, he often joined -them in their little amusements. Without the -slightest trace of austerity, he generally managed to -give their amusements, as far as possible, a religious -character. He usually made the festivals memorable -to them by some extra indulgence or entertainment. -He encouraged and directed their childish tastes in -the embellishment of their little oratories, or in those -well-known Christmas devices of Catholic children, -the preparation of the “Crib of the Infant Jesus,” -or the decoration of the “Christmas Tree.” He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> -hoarded his little resources in order to procure for -them improving and instructive books. He composed -simple odes and sonnets for the several festivals, which -it was his greatest enjoyment to hear them recite. -The simplicity of his disposition, and a natural -fondness for children which was one of the -characteristics even of his later life, made all this -easy to him. He was always ready, if not to -take a part, at least to manifest an interest, in -the pleasures of his young friends. In the carnival -especially, when amusement seems, for a time, to -form the serious business of every Italian household, -he was never wanting; and, on one memorable occasion, -he actually composed a little comedy, to be acted -by his nephews and nieces for the humble family circle.</p> - -<p>During the whole winter of 1806-7 his time was -still occupied in the uncongenial labour of compiling -the Catalogue.</p> - -<p>On the 25th of September, he writes to the Abate -De Rossi, apologizing for delay in replying to a letter -received from him.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“A complication of unfortunate accidents has, up to this moment, -prevented me from answering your kind letter of last July. -My poor mother has frequently, during the summer, been in -extreme danger of death. My own chest, too, has more than once -been threatened, and is still far from strong. All this, however, -does not save me from a feeling of remorse at having -been so tardy towards one whose scientific reputation, as well as -his courteous manners, entitle him to so much consideration. My -labour, as you say, is not yet over. The task, as I had indeed -anticipated from the beginning, has proved an exceedingly difficult -one. As an evidence of the difficulty I need only mention<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> -that the celebrated Giuseppe Assemani, in the similar work which -he undertook,<a id="FNanchor_336" href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> has made numerous mistakes, having in one -instance given no less than six different titles to seven copies of -the same work. This great orientalist, with all his learning, -could not command the time necessary for so troublesome a task -as that of ascertaining the titles and authors of books which are -quite unknown and often imperfect. For my part, I resolved -from the beginning that I would not, willingly at least, add to the -other deficiencies of which I am conscious, that of haste and -insufficient time. <i>Nam quo minus ingenio possum, subsidio -mihi diligentiam comparavi</i>; and the condescension of his -Serene Highness has in the end relieved me, by extending until -April the time allowed for the completion of the task. The -grammarians, rhetoricians, poets, prosodians, logicians, and theologians, -have taken up all my time hitherto; in the course of the -next two months, I hope to complete the enumeration of the -other authors; and then I shall at last fulfil my promise of -sending you, when occasion serves, whatever I think may interest -you.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>De Rossi, in his letter, to which this is a reply, -had put some questions regarding the contents of the -octavo edition of D’Herbelot’s <i>Bibliothèque Orientale</i>, -the preface of which had contained a promise of many -important improvements. Mezzofanti, referring to -these promised additions, goes on to say, “In the -articles which I have compared, I have only found a -few verbal corrections. But in the preface, we are -promised additional articles, drawn from the narratives -of travellers subsequent to D’Herbelot. From -this promise you will be able to infer what information -you may expect to derive from the edition, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> -whether it is likely to be useful for your purpose. I -have not yet received the supplement, which was to -contain certain articles which have been postponed -for reasons explained in the preface. Perhaps the reason -of its not having been printed, may be, that the -articles in question, being of use to orientalists alone, -may be found by them in the former editions.</p> - -<p>“As it would be no small distinction for the collection -of Oriental MSS. belonging to this Royal Library -of ours, if among them there should be found any deserving -of a place amongst the MSS. cited in your -dictionary, I shall endeavour, in the hope that it may -prove so, to complete my task as speedily as possible, -so as to send you at least an index, out of which you -may yourself choose the name of any author whom -you shall judge deserving of notice.</p> - -<p>“I believe Dombay’s work has been published. I -have the title, ‘<i>Geschichte der Mauritan. Könige; -aus dem Arabischen übersetzt</i>’;<a id="FNanchor_337" href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> but without date -or place. I shall write to Vienna as soon as I can, -to order it, if it should be published. I have made a -good many interesting acquisitions lately; as for -instance, <i>Albucasis ‘De Chirurgia.’</i><a id="FNanchor_338" href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> Oxonii, 1778.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span> -‘<i>Maured Allatafet Jemaleddini filii Togri Bardii; -seu Rerum Aegyptiacarum Annales ab Anno C. 971 -ad 1453</i>’;<a id="FNanchor_339" href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> several ‘<i>Anthologias</i>’ and ‘<i>Chrestomathias</i>;’ -one of which, that of Rink and Vater, has at the -end a <i>Bibliotheca Arabica</i> continued up to 1802; and -some other books.”</p> - -<p class="tb">At this date, Mezzofanti’s correspondence with De -Rossi is interrupted; and, although there appears -to have been a pretty regular interchange of correspondence -between them for some years longer,<a id="FNanchor_340" href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> no -further letter has been found among those of De Rossi’s -papers which are deposited in the library of Parma, -except one written in the year 1812.</p> - -<p>Scanty as are the details supplied by those which -are preserved, they, at least, afford some insight into -the process by which the writer’s extraordinary faculty -was developed and perfected. However acute and -almost instinctive this faculty may have been, it is -plain from these letters, that it was at this time most -systematically and laboriously cultivated. However -much Mezzofanti may have owed to nature, it is certain, -that for all the practical results of his great natural -gifts he was indebted to his own patient and almost -plodding industry; and it may cheer the humble -student in the long and painful course through which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> -alone he can aspire to success, to find that even this -prodigy of language was forced to tread the same laborious -path;—to see the anxious care with which he -collected and consulted grammars, dictionaries, -manuals, reading books, and other similar commonplace -appliances of the study; and to learn, that, with all -his unquestioned and unquestionable genius, he did -not consider himself above the drudgery at which even -less gifted students are but too apt to murmur or -repine.</p> - -<p>It may be added that the toilsome practice of -writing out translations from one language into another -which these letters disclose, was continued by -Mezzofanti through his entire career of study, -although in his latter years he pursued it more as an -amusement than as a serious task.</p> - -<p>It is hard, in ordinary cases, to infer from such -performances the exact degree of proficiency in the -language which they should be presumed to indicate. -Some translations are only the fruit of long and careful -study.<a id="FNanchor_341" href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> On the contrary, there are instances on -record in which excellent translations have been produced -by persons possessing a very slight knowledge -of the original. Thus Monte, the author of the best -Italian translation of Homer, was utterly unacquainted -with Greek;<a id="FNanchor_342" href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> Halley, without knowing a word of Arabic, -was able to guess his way, (partly by mathematical -reasoning, partly by the aid of a Latin version, which,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> -however, only contained about one-tenth of the entire -work,) through an Arabic translation of Apollonius -<i>De Sectione Rationis</i>;<a id="FNanchor_343" href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> and M. Arnaud, the first -French translator of Lalla Rookh, did not know a word -of the English language.<a id="FNanchor_344" href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a></p> - -<p>But on all these points Mezzofanti’s fame is beyond -suspicion. His translations, at least in his later life, -were at once produced with the utmost freedom and -rapidity, and are universally acknowledged to have been -models of verbal correctness; and in most instances -where the same passage is translated into many -languages, the versions display a remarkable mastery -over the peculiar forms and idioms of each.</p> - -<p>This wonderful success must be ascribed, no doubt, -to his early and systematic exercise in translation, -of which the specimen submitted to De Rossi is but -one example.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1807-1814.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>The <i>Catalogue Raisonné</i> of the Oriental and Greek -manuscripts was not completed until 1807, having -thus absorbed the greater part of Abate Mezzofanti’s -time during two years.</p> - -<p>A large proportion of the Oriental MSS. had -never even been entered upon the ordinary library -catalogue, and no attempt at all had been made -to describe them accurately, much less to register their -character or contents. Very many of them too, -as we learn from Mezzofanti’s letters, were imperfect; -and a still more considerable number wanted at least -the title and the name of the author. It was no -trivial labour, therefore, to examine the entire collection; -to decide on the name, the age, and the -authorship of each; to describe their contents; and -to reduce them all into their respective classes. -For most of these particulars the compiler of the catalogue -was utterly without a guide. It is true that -Joseph Assemani’s catalogue of the Oriental MSS. of -the Vatican, and the catalogue of those of the Medicean<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> -Library at Florence by his nephew Stephen Evodius, -were in some cases available. But many of the -Bologna MSS. are not to be found in either catalogue; -and for all these Mezzofanti was of course compelled -to rely altogether on his own lights.</p> - -<p>The catalogue, as drawn up by him, is still preserved, -and, notwithstanding these disadvantages, is described -as a highly creditable performance, and “a -valuable supplement to the labours of Talmar and -the Assemanis;”<a id="FNanchor_345" href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> and at all events it was to his long -and laborious researches while engaged in its preparation, -that he owed that minute familiarity with the -whole literature of the East, ancient and modern, -which, as we shall see, was a subject of wonder even -to learned orientals themselves.</p> - -<p>During the year 1807, an opportunity occurred for -testing practically how far the reputation which he -had acquired corresponded with his real attainments. -On the outbreak of hostilities between the Porte and -Russia in that year, the Russian ambassador, -Italinski, withdrew (not without some risk and difficulty)<a id="FNanchor_346" href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> -from Constantinople, and, being conveyed on -board the British ship of war, Canopus, to Malta, -afterwards made his way to Ancona. While the -ambassador remained at Ancona, the chancellor of -the embassy, Angelo Timoni, who was of Bolognese -origin, came to visit his native city; accompanied by -Matteo Pisani, the official interpreter, who was one of -the best linguists of his time, and especially a perfect -master of all the modern languages of the East.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> -As they resided, during their stay at Bologna, in the -house of his friend, Dr. Santagata, their visit was a severe -ordeal for Mezzofanti, who was constantly in their -society; but he withstood it triumphantly; and Santagata -records their wonder and delight to find that, without -ever having visited the East, or mixed in Oriental society, -the Bolognese professor had nevertheless attained -a “mastery over the many and various languages, -especially Oriental ones, in which they tried him, and -that the marvellous and all but inconceivable accounts -which they had received regarding him, proved -to be not only credible but actually true.”<a id="FNanchor_347" href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a></p> - -<p>A great and lasting mortification nevertheless soon -afterwards befel Mezzofanti, in the unexpected deprivation -of his beloved professorship. The circumstances -which accompanied his removal have not been fully detailed, -but there is enough in the history of the period to -supply an intelligible explanation. The conflict of -Napoleon with the Holy See was just then approaching -its crisis. From the beginning of this year the -French troops had occupied Rome. Two cardinal secretaries -of state had been forcibly ejected from office. -The Pope was a prisoner in his own palace and his -authority was completely superseded. Now upon -these and the many similar outrages to which the -venerable Pontiff was daily subjected, the opinions of -Mezzofanti were no secret; and there can be no doubt -that the determination of the Government to remove -him from the university was mainly influenced by this -knowledge; although in deference to public opinion, -and to the universal feeling of respect with which he was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> -regarded, they abstained from formally depriving him -of his professorship. His removal was effected indirectly -by a decree, dated November 15, 1808, by which -the Oriental professorship itself was suppressed.</p> - -<p>Although a pension, and as it would seem, not a -very illiberal one, was assigned to him, he felt very -deeply this exclusion from a career so congenial to -his tastes. He continued nevertheless, as before, to -instruct pupils privately in these and other languages; -and although, as to details, the history of his own -studies at this time is a complete blank, yet from his -known habits it may reasonably be presumed that -when the first feeling of mortification had subsided, -the ultimate result of his release from the duties of -his chair, was to direct his untiring energies into new -fields of research; and it seems to have been during -this interval that he first gave his attention to the -Sanscrit and other Indian languages;—a family -which had till then been but little cultivated except -in England, but to whose vast importance, as well as -widely extended philological relations, Frederic -Schlegel<a id="FNanchor_348" href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> had just awakened the attention of the -learned throughout continental Europe.</p> - -<p class="tb">From the date of this second deprivation, till the -year 1812, his quiet and uniform course of life presents -hardly a single interesting incident.</p> - -<p>In June, 1810, his mother died. But her advanced -age and infirm health had long prepared him for this -bereavement. She died on the feast of St. Aloysius -(June 21,) in her seventy-third year.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span></p> - -<p>The only detail regarding his personal occupations, -which I have been able to discover, is derived from -a letter, dated November 30th, 1811,<a id="FNanchor_349" href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> to his friend -Pezzana, at Parma, which exhibits him again engaged -in the drudgery of compiling a catalogue—that of the -library of Count Marescalchi. Pezzana had published, -some time before, a short bibliographical essay on -two very rare editions of Petrarch, which are still -preserved in the Parma Collection. Mezzofanti, -while engaged in cataloguing the Marescalchi library, -discovered a copy of one of these editions, and -at once wrote to communicate the fact to Pezzana.</p> - -<p>I may also mention, what, in a life so uneventful, -must claim to be regarded as an event—a short -journey which he made to Modena and Mantua. -Joseph Minarelli, the eldest of his sister’s sons, was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span> -summoned to Modena in 1813, to ballot in the -conscription which followed the terrible campaign of -1812, so fatal to the armies of France. Signora -Minarelli was naturally much alarmed at the chance -of her son’s being drawn in the conscription, and in -consideration for her anxiety, his uncle accompanied -him to Modena upon the occasion.</p> - -<p>It becomes especially difficult henceforward to follow -the history of his studies. The literary friends -of this part of his career;—his colleagues in -the University; Ranzani; Caturegli, the astronomer; -the eminent botanist, Felippo Re; his -fellow-pupil and fellow-teacher, Clotilda Tambroni; -Schiassi; Magistrini; and others of less note, -who could have supplied information, not only -as to his habits and pursuits, but as to the -actual stages of his progress, are long since dead. -The letters of Pietro Giordani,<a id="FNanchor_350" href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> however, recently -published, may, in some measure, fill up the blank; -not, it is true, as to the details of his biography, but at -least in so far as regards the opinion entertained -in Bologna of his character and acquirements. -Indeed the testimony of Giordani is less open -to exception than any which could have emanated -from the personal friends of Mezzofanti. Giordani -had entered the Benedictine congregation, and had -even received the order of sub-deaconship; but on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span> -outbreak of the Revolution, he had renounced the monastic -life, cast aside the Benedictine habit, and thrown -himself into the arms of the revolutionary party in -Italy. Under the French rule at Bologna, he obtained -as the reward of his principles, the place of Assistant -Librarian, and also that of Deputy Professor of Latin -and Italian Eloquence. Hence it will easily be believed -that his relations with the Papal party in the University -were by no means friendly; and, as he had had -with the Abate Mezzofanti himself (as I learn from -an interesting letter of M. Libri which shall be inserted -hereafter,) some personal misunderstandings, he -may be presumed to have been but little disposed to -over-rate the qualifications of an antagonist. It is -no mean evidence of Mezzofanti’s merit, therefore, -that Giordani has specially excepted him from the -very disparaging estimate which he expresses regarding -the literary men of Italy at this time. “I have held -but little intercourse with literary men,” he writes to -his friend Lazzaro Papi, “finding them commonly possessed -of but little learning and a great deal of passion. -Here, however, I have met an exception to the rule—the -Abate Mezzofanti—a man not only of the utmost -piety, but of attainments truly wonderful and all but -beyond belief. You must, of course, have heard of -him; but indeed he well deserves a wider fame than -he enjoys, for the number of languages which he -knows most perfectly, although this is the least part -of his learning. Nevertheless, such is his excessive -modesty, that he lives here in obscurity, and I must -add, to the disgrace of the age, in poverty.”<a id="FNanchor_351" href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span></p> - -<p>Nor is Giordani’s report to be regarded as one of -those vague panegyrics, which, when Mezzofanti’s -fame was established, each new visitor was wont to -re-echo. Giordani is not only well-known as one of -the purest Italian writers of the century, but enjoyed -the highest reputation as a critical scholar; and the -subject on which, in another of his letters, he defers -to the judgment of Mezzofanti—a delicate question -of Greek criticism—was precisely that on which he -himself was best qualified to pronounce. In a letter -to the Abate Canova (Feb 3, 1812,) he mentions a -conjecture that had recently interested him very -much; viz., that the great Roman architect, Vitruvius, -was a Greek, although he wrote in Latin. His chief -argument is based upon Vitruvius’s Latinity, in which -he detects traces of foreign idiom. But, lest he should -yield too much to fancy, he had appealed to the judgment -of some of his colleagues, and he communicates -the result to his correspondent. One of the persons -thus consulted was Mezzofanti. “I should not rely -on my own judgment,” says Giordani, “had I not convinced -Cicognara and Mezzofanti that it is right. The -authority of the latter is the more important, because -my argument rests chiefly on the style, in every line of -which I find impressed, even where the subject is -not technical, traces of halting [<i>storpiato</i>] and ill-translated -Greek; and you know what a judge Mezzofanti -is of this point.”<a id="FNanchor_352" href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a></p> - -<p>In a letter to another friend, Count Leopoldo<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> -Cicognara, (since known as the biographer of Canova)<a id="FNanchor_353" href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> -Giordani reports the sequel of this discussion, which -confirms in a very remarkable manner, Giordani’s -judgment of Mezzofanti’s critical sagacity. Mezzofanti -had at first assented to Giordani’s conjecture; but -on a closer examination he discovered, that what -Giordani had considered the Grecisms of Vitruvius’s -style, were, in reality, but <i>translations from various -Greek authors</i>, from whom Vitruvius largely borrows, -and whom he actually enumerates in the preface of -the seventh book. Mezzofanti further pointed out -a phrase in the same preface which at once put an -end to the discussion, and the discovery of which, as -Giordani justly observes, in itself “indicated an inquiring -and critical mind.” Vitruvius, in speaking of -the Latin writers upon his art, as contradistinguished -from the Greek, calls them “antiqui <i>nostri</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_354" href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a></p> - -<p>To the same friend, Count Cicognara, Giordani in -a previous letter, dated January 30th, 1812, had -written of Mezzofanti’s own peculiar faculty of languages, -in terms of almost rapturous admiration. -“You know Mezzofanti,” he says;—“Mezzofanti—the -rarest, most unheard of, most inconceivable of living -men. I call him, and he is, the man of all nations -and all ages. By Jove! he appears as though he had -been born in the beginning of the world, and, like<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> -St. Anthony, had lived in every age and in every country!”<a id="FNanchor_355" href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a></p> - -<p>In connexion with this very remarkable testimony to -the accuracy of Mezzofanti’s knowledge of Greek, I may -mention (although it more properly belongs to a later -period of his life) an amusing anecdote illustrative of -his accomplishments as a Latinist, which is recorded -by Dr. Santagata, and the hero of which was M. -Bucheron, Professor of Latin Literature in the University -of Turin, and one of the most celebrated -classical philologists of modern Italy. M. Bucheron came -to Bologna, from some cause strongly prepossessed -against Mezzofanti, and disposed to regard him in -the light of a mere literary charlatan, of showy but -superficial acquirements. Of his Latinity—especially -in all that bears upon the critical niceties of -the language, and the numberless philological -questions regarding it which have arisen among -modern scholars, M. Bucheron entertained the lowest -possible estimate;—considering it, in truth, impossible, -that one whose attention had been divided over -so many languages as fame ascribed to Mezzofanti, -<i>could be</i> solidly grounded in any of them. He resolved, -therefore, to put the Abate’s Latinity to a rigorous -test; and came to the library prepared with a -number of questions, bearing upon the niceties of the -Latin language, which he proposed to introduce, as -it were casually, in his expected conversation. He -was presented to Mezzofanti by his friend, Michele -Ferrucci, Librarian of the University of Pisa, from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span> -whom, I may add, Dr. Santagata received the account -of their interview. The conversation, as Bucheron -had pre-determined, began upon some common-place -subject: but in a short time he artfully contrived to -turn it upon those topics on which he desired to -probe his companion. The trial was a most animated -one. From a series of obscure and difficult questions -of Latin philology, they passed to a variety of oriental, -historical, and archæological topics. At the moment -when the interest of the conversation was at its very -height, Ferrucci was unfortunately called away by -business; but the result may be judged from the sequel. -On his return, after a somewhat lengthened absence, -he met Bucheron coming from the Library.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said he, “what do you think of Mezzofanti?”</p> - -<p>“<i>Per Bacco!</i>” replied the astounded Piedmontese. -“<i>Per Bacco! é il Diavolo!</i>”<a id="FNanchor_356" href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a></p> - -<p>His celebrity, indeed, was by this time universally -established. With all his unaffected humility; with the -full consciousness (which he expressed in all simplicity -and truth to his young friend, Carlino Marescalchi) -that he was “best fitted for the shade”—he -had insensibly grown into one of the notabilities of -Bologna. He was constantly visited and consulted, -especially by Oriental students, from foreign countries. -What is more remarkable, more than one Jewish -scholar appears in the record of his visitors. -Among the papers of the Abate De Rossi is a letter -of this period (March 18th, 1812,) in which Mezzofanti<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span> -introduces to him a certain “Signor Moise -Ber;” and, notwithstanding the variety of orthography, -(a variety quite natural in an Italian letter,) -there can be no doubt that this Signor Moise Ber -was no other than Rabbi Moses Beer of the -Israelite University of Rome, whose Orations and -Discourses have since been published.<a id="FNanchor_357" href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">Mezzofanti’s opportunities of conversing with foreigners -were much increased by his becoming permanently -attached to the Library of the University (with -which the Library of the Institute had been incorporated -by the French) as Deputy-Librarian. This -appointment he received on the 28th of March, in -1812. As the chief librarian at this time was the -Abate Pozzetti, who, like Mezzofanti, was an honorary -professor of the University, and one of his most -valued friends, the appointment was especially agreeable -to him: and, independently of its other advantages, -it became for him, as I said, from the constant -passing and re-passing of strangers from every country, -a school in which he was able to exercise himself, -almost hourly, in every department of his multilingual -studies.</p> - -<p>The late Lord Guilford, who was Chancellor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> -of the University of Corfu, made his acquaintance -during one of his visits to Bologna; and on every -subsequent occasion on which he passed through -that city, Mezzofanti was invariably his guest, -accompanied by all the Greeks who chanced to be -at the time students of the University.</p> - -<p>As his reputation extended, the literary societies -of the various cities of Italy were naturally desirous -to number him among their members. He was already -an associate of the <i>Societá Colombina</i> at Florence, -and of the “Society of Letters, Sciences, and Arts,” -at Leghorn; and he received about this time, the -decoration of the Royal Order of the Two Sicilies. The -only literary society, however, in whose proceedings -he took an active part, was the Scientific Academy -of the Institute of his native city. It has been commonly -supposed that he rarely, if at all, appeared in -the literary arena, and it is true that he has not -left behind him anything at all commensurate with -his reputation; but he frequently read papers, chiefly -on philological subjects, in the Bolognese Academy. -The first of these which is noticed by Dr. Santagata -was read on the 22nd of July, 1813; and another, -“On the Symbolic Paintings of the Mexicans,” was -delivered in the following session, on the 23rd of -March, 1814. Owing to his early association with -several ex-Jesuit American Missionaries who had -settled in Bologna, he had long felt an interest in the -curious subject of Mexican Antiquities. Among his -MSS., which still remain in the possession of the -Cavaliere Minarelli at Bologna, is a Mexican Calendar,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> -drawn up by Mezzofanti’s own hand, and illustrated -with fac-similes of the original pictures and -symbolical representations from the pencil of his -niece, Signora Anna Minarelli; but of the paper -read in the Academy, no trace has been found.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1814-1817.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>The year 1814, so memorable in general history, -was also an important one in the humble fortunes of -the Abate Mezzofanti.</p> - -<p>The success of the papal cause in Italy naturally -opened a new career to the men against whom fidelity -to the papal interest had long closed the ordinary -avenues to distinction.</p> - -<p>In the close of 1813, the reverses, which, from the -disastrous Russian expedition, had succeeded each -other with startling rapidity, at length forced upon -Napoleon the conviction that he had overcalculated the -endurance of the people of France. He now learned, -when too late, that the reckless expenditure of human -blood with which his splendid successes were purchased, -had brought sorrow and suffering to every fireside in -every hamlet through his wide empire, and that the -enormous levies which he still continued to demand, and -which were called out only to perish in the fruitless -contest with his destiny, consummated the popular discontent. -No longer, therefore, in a position to brave the -public reprobation with which his treatment of Pius<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span> -VII. had been visited, he found it necessary to restore -the semblance of those more friendly relations -which he had maintained with him in the less -openly ambitious stage of his career. Accordingly, -although among the provisions of the extorted Concordat -of Fontainebleau, there was none to which -Napoleon, in his secret heart, clung more tenaciously -than the renunciation which it implied on the part -of the Pontiff of the sovereignty of Rome, he found -it necessary, notwithstanding, to yield so far to public -sympathy as to issue an order for the Pope’s -immediate return to Italy, dated the 22nd of January, -1814. This measure, nevertheless, had evidently been -extorted from his fears; and, as he desired nothing -from it beyond the effect which he expected it to -produce on the public mind, he contrived that upon -various pretences the Pope’s progress should be interrupted -and delayed. For a short time, too, the varying -success with which the memorable campaign of 1814 -commenced; the opening of the Congress of Chatillon; -the conclusion of the armistice of Lusigny;—all served -to re-animate his sinking hopes. Thus the Pope was detained -day after day, week after week, in the south of -France, until the close of the Emperor’s death struggle, -by the capitulation of Paris; when Pius VII. was at -length set free to return to his capital, by an order -of the provisional government, dated the 2nd of -April, 1814.</p> - -<p>Within a few days after the communication of this -order, Pius VII. reached Bologna. Among the ecclesiastics -who there hastened to offer homage to their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span> -restored sovereign, there were few who could approach -his throne with a fuller consciousness of unsullied loyalty, -or who could present more unequivocal evidences -of the truth and sincerity of the allegiance which they -tendered, than the ex-Professor Mezzofanti, driven -from his chair because he refused to compromise his -loyalty even by an indirect recognition of the Anti-Papal -government, and only restored, when, after -the concordat of 1801, the occupation of the Legations -had been acquiesced in by the Pontificial -government itself, he had a second time suffered the -penalty of loyalty in a similar deprivation. It will -easily be believed, therefore, that, in the more than -gracious reception accorded to him by the Pontiff, a -feeling of grateful recognition of his fidelity and of -sympathy with the sacrifices which he had made, was -mingled with undisguised admiration of his talents -and acquirements.</p> - -<p>Hence the first impulse of this munificent pope was to -attach to his own immediate service a scholar who -was at once eminent for learning, distinguished by -piety, by priestly zeal, and by loyalty in the hour of -trial, unstained even by the slightest compromise. -The re-construction of the various Roman tribunals -and congregations which, during the captivity of the -Pope and Cardinals, had been, for the most part, suspended, -suggested an opportunity of employing, -with marked advantage for the public service, the -peculiar talents which seemed almost idly wasted -in the obscurity of a provincial capital. The halls and -public offices of Rome had been the school or the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span> -arena of all the celebrated linguists of the -seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and the -very constitution of the congregation and college, -“De Propaganda Fide,” appeared specially to invite -the services of one so eminent in that department. -Accordingly, Pius VII. surprised the modest -Abate by an invitation to accompany him to -Rome, and proposed for his acceptance the important -office of the secretaryship of the Propaganda<a id="FNanchor_358" href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a>—one -of those so called <i>poste cardinalizie</i>, which -constitute the first step in the career towards the -cardinalate.</p> - -<p>Mezzofanti was deeply affected by this mark of the -favour and confidence of his sovereign. Independently, -too, of these flattering considerations, and of the -advantages of rank and fortune which it involved, -the mere residence in Rome, and especially in the -Propaganda—the great polyglot centre of the ancient -and modern world—had many attractions for a student -of language so enthusiastic and indefatigable. It -was a proud thought, moreover, to follow in the -track of Ubicini, and Giorgi, and Piromalli, and the -Assemani’s. But his modesty was proof against all -these temptations. He shrank from the responsibility -which this great office involved;—and, with the every -expression of gratitude for so distinguished an honour, -he declined to exchange the quiet and seclusion of -his life at Bologna, for the more brilliant, but far -more anxious position held out for his acceptance at -Rome.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span></p> - -<p>Not content, however, with personal solicitations, -the Pope employed Cardinal Consalvi to use his influence -with Mezzofanti. But it was to no purpose. The -humble Abate could not be induced to leave his native -city. The only mark of favour, therefore, which remained -at the disposal of the pontiff, was one which Mezzofanti -prized infinitely beyond the more solid, as well as -more brilliant, offer which awaited him at Rome,—his -re-establishment in the Professorship of Oriental -Languages. He was formally restored on the 28th of -April, 1814,<a id="FNanchor_359" href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> a few days after the departure of the -Pope from Bologna.</p> - -<p>There is no doubt that on this occasion, as on that -of his declining the invitation to Paris several years -earlier, he was much influenced by those considerations, -arising from his relations to the children of his -sister, to which I already alluded, his presence in Bologna -being now more than ever necessary for the completion -of their education. Indeed this was now the chief -family duty which bound him to Bologna; for his father, -who had survived his mother by several years, died, at -the advanced age of eighty-one, in April, 1814, during -the visit of Pius VII. to that city.</p> - -<p class="tb">The few notices of the Abate Mezzofanti which we -have met up to this period, are derived almost exclusively -from Bolognese, or at least Italian sources. During -the long continental war, the ordinary intercourse -with Italy was, in great part, suspended, and few -tourists, especially of the literary class, visited the -north of Italy. But the cessation of hostilities in -the spring of 1814, re-opened the long interrupted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span> -communication, and the annual stream of visitors to -Rome and Naples again began to flow, with its -wonted regularity, through the cities of the north. -Few of the tourists who published an account of their -travels at this date failed to devote some of their pages -to one who had now become one of the chief “sights” -of his native city. It is hardly necessary to say, -that, in some instances, these accounts are but the -echoes of popular fame, and exhibit the usual amount -of ignorance, credulity, and superficial information, -which characterise “travellers’ tales.” But very many, -also, will be found to contain the judgment of acute, learned, -and impartial observers; many of them are the result -of a careful and jealous scrutiny of Mezzofanti’s -attainments, made by critics of indisputable capacity; -most of them will be admitted to be of unquestionable -value, as to one point at least—Mezzofanti’s familiarity -with the native language of each particular -traveller; and all, even the least solid among them, -are interesting, as presenting to us, with the freshness -of contemporary narrative, the actual impressions -received by the writer from his opportunities of personal -intercourse with the great linguist.</p> - -<p>I have collected from many sources, published<a id="FNanchor_360" href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> -and unpublished, a variety of these travellers’ notices, -which I shall use freely in illustrating the narrative<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span> -of the remaining years of the life of Mezzofanti. I shall -be careful, however, in all that regards the critical portion -of the biography, and especially in estimating the -actual extent of Mezzofanti’s linguistic attainments, -only to rely, for each language, on the authority of one -who, either as a native, or at least an unquestioned -proficient in that particular language, will be admitted -to be a perfectly competent judge in its regard.</p> - -<p>The autumn of the year 1814 supplies one such -notice, which is remarkable, as the first direct testimony -to Mezzofanti’s proficiency in speaking German. -He had learned this language in boyhood; and it is -clear from his letters to De Rossi, and from the books -to which he freely refers in that correspondence, that -he was intimately acquainted with it as a language -of books. But in this year we are able for the first -time to test his power of speaking German by the -judgment of a native.</p> - -<p>The writer in question is a German tourist, named -Kephalides, professor in the University of Breslau,<a id="FNanchor_361" href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> -who (as may be inferred from his alluding to the -Congress of Vienna, as just opened) visited Bologna -in the October or November of 1814. “The Professor -Abate Mezzofanti,” writes this traveller, who met -him in the Library, “speaks German with extraordinary -fluency, although he has never been out of -Bologna. He is a warm admirer, too, of the literature -of Germany, especially its poetry; and he has stirred -up the same enthusiasm among the educated classes in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span> -Bologna, both gentlemen and ladies.”<a id="FNanchor_362" href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> We learn incidentally, -too, from this writer’s narrative, that German -was among the languages which Mezzofanti taught -to his private pupils. In a rather interesting account -of an interview which he had with old Father -Emmanuel Aponte, (one of Mezzofanti’s first instructors,) -and with the celebrated lady-professor of Greek, -so often referred to, Clotilda Tambroni, Kephalides -mentions that the youth whom Mezzofanti sent to -conduct him to Aponte was one of his own pupils, who -had just begun to “lisp German.” Strangely enough, -nevertheless, Kephalides does not allude to any other -of Mezzofanti’s languages, nor even to his general -reputation as a linguist of more than ordinary -attainments.</p> - -<p>In the commencement of the year 1815, the chief -Librarianship of the University became vacant by -the death of Father Pompilio Pozzetti. Pozzetti -was one of the congregation of the <i>Scuole Pie</i>, and -in earlier life had been Librarian of that Ducal -Library at Modena, which Tiraboschi has made -familiar to every student of Italian literature. From -the time of his appointment as Prefect of the -Bologna Library, a close intimacy had subsisted -between him and Mezzofanti; and on the latter’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> -being named his assistant, this intimacy ripened -into a warm friendship. Mezzofanti was at once appointed -as his successor, on the 25th of April, 1815.<a id="FNanchor_363" href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> -In the letter in which (May 15th,) he communicated -his appointment to his friend, Pezzana, who held -the kindred office at Parma, he speaks in terms of -the highest praise of his predecessor and of the -services which he had rendered during his tenure of -office, and deplores his death as a serious loss to the -institution.</p> - -<p>The revenue of this office, which he held conjointly -with his professorship, (although both salaries -united amounted to a very moderate sum)<a id="FNanchor_364" href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> placed the -Abate Mezzofanti in comparatively easy circumstances, -and for the first time above the actual struggle for -daily bread. That he still continued, nevertheless, to -instruct pupils in private, need hardly be matter of -surprise, when it is remembered that, as we have -seen, the support of no less than ten individuals -was dependent upon his exertions.<a id="FNanchor_365" href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a></p> - -<p>Indeed, once released from the sordid cares and excessive -drudgery of tuition to which his earlier years -had been condemned,—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The starving meal, and all the thousand aches</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which patient merit of the unworthy takes—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">the exercise of teaching was to him rather an enjoyment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span> -than a labour. After his removal to the Vatican -Library, and even after his elevation to the -Cardinalate, we shall find it his chief, if not his only, -relaxation. Few men have possessed in a higher -degree the power of winning at once the confidence -and the love of a pupil. The perfect simplicity of -his character—his exceeding gentleness—the cheerful -playfulness of his manner—the total absence of -any seeming consciousness of superior attainments—his -evident enjoyment of the society of the young, -and above all the unaffected goodness and kindness -of his disposition, attracted the love of his youthful -friends, as much as his marvellous accomplishments -challenged their admiration. It is only just to add -that he repaid the affection which he thus invariably -won from them by the liveliest interest in all that -regarded their progress, and a sincere concern for -their happiness which followed them in every stage -of their after life.</p> - -<p>By degrees, too, he was beginning, in the natural -advance of years, to enjoy the best fruit of the -labour of instruction, in the success, and even -distinction, attained by his quondam pupils. One -of these to whom he was especially attached, the -young Marchese Angelelli, had passed through the -University with much honour; and, in the beginning -of 1815, published anonymously a metrical translation -of the Electra of Sophocles, which met with very -marked favour. Mezzofanti who was much gratified -by the success of this first essay, communicated -to his friend Pezzana the secret of the authorship.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span> -“I send you,” he writes, May 8, 1815, “a first essay -in translation from the Greek, published by an able -pupil of mine, whose modesty has not permitted him -to put his name to his work. From you, however, -I make no secret of it. The author is one of -our young nobles, the Marchese Maximilian Francis -Angelelli, an indefatigable cultivator of every liberal -study. I may add, as there is no danger of its reaching -the ears of the modest translator, that this first -effort is only the beginning of greater things. You -will accept a copy for yourself, and place the other -in your library, which I am happy to know grows -daily, both in extent and reputation, through the -care of its librarian, no less than by his distinguished -name.”</p> - -<p>This first essay of the young poet was followed in -the next year by a further publication, containing the -Electra, the Antigone, and the Trachiniæ; and, a few -years later, his master had the gratification of witnessing -the successful completion of his favourite pupil’s -task, by the publication of the entire seven tragedies -of Sophocles, in 1823-4.<a id="FNanchor_366" href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a></p> - -<p>One effect of Mezzofanti’s appointment as librarian -was to separate him somewhat from his sister and her -family. He occupied thenceforward the apartments -of the librarian in the Palace of the University. But -he still continued towards them the same affectionate -protection and support. Hitherto he had himself in part<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span> -superintended or directed the education of his nephews, -and especially of his namesake Joseph, a youth of -much promise, whose diligence and success fully requited -his uncle’s care. Joseph had made choice of the -ecclesiastical profession; and, although falling far -short of his uncle’s extraordinary gift, he became -an excellent linguist, and was especially distinguished -as a Greek and Latin scholar; so that his uncle had -the satisfaction, when his own increasing occupations -compelled him to diminish the number of his pupils, -of finding the young Minarelli fully competent to -undertake a portion of the charge.</p> - -<p>His first public appearance at the Academy after he -entered upon his new office, was for the purpose of reading, -(July 11th, 1815,) a paper “On the Wallachian -Language and its Analogies with Latin;”—a subject -which has engaged the attention of philologers and -historians from the days of Chalcocondylas, and -which involves many interesting ethnological, as well -as philological considerations.<a id="FNanchor_367" href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> As we shall find him, a -few years later, astonishing a German visitor by his -familiarity with this out-of-the-way language, it is worth -while to note this essay, as an evidence that here, too, -his knowledge was the result of careful study, and not -of casual opportunity, or of sudden inspiration.</p> - -<p>For a considerable time after he took charge of the -Library, he seems to have been much occupied by his -duties in connexion with it. The only letter which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span> -I have been able to obtain about this period, one -addressed to Pezzana, March 5th, 1816, is entirely -occupied with details regarding the library; and -M. Manavit mentions that he not only obtained from -the authorities a considerable addition to the funds -appropriated to the purchase of books, but, moreover, -devoted no trifling share of his own humble resources -to the same purpose.<a id="FNanchor_368" href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> In the course of a few months, -too, he was quite at ease in his new pursuit; and the -familiarity with the contents of the library, and even -of the position of particular books upon its shelves -which he soon possessed, would, in a person of less -prodigious memory, have been a subject of wonder. -His nephew, Cavaliere Minarelli of Bologna, was present -on one occasion when Professor Ranzani, while -passing an evening in the librarian’s apartments, -happened to require some rare volume from the library; -and, though it was dark at the time, Mezzofanti left -the room without a light, proceeded to the library, and -in a few moments returned with the volume required.</p> - -<p>In July, 1816, Mezzofanti read at the Academy -an essay “on the Language of the Sette Communi at -Vicenza,” which has been spoken of with much praise. -This singular community—descended from those stragglers -of the invading army of Cimbri and Teutones -which crossed the Alps in the year of Rome, 640, -who escaped amid the almost complete extermination -of their companions under Marius, and took refuge in the -neighbouring mountains—presents, (like the similar -Roman colony on the Transylvanian border,) the strange<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span> -phenomenon of a foreign race and language preserved -unmixed in the midst of another people and another -tongue for a space of nearly two thousand years. -They occupy seven parishes in the vicinity of Vicenza,<a id="FNanchor_369" href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> -whence their name is derived; and they still retain not -only the tradition of their origin, but the substance, -and even the leading forms of the Teutonic language; -insomuch that Frederic IV., of Denmark, who -visited them in the beginning of the last century, -(1708,) discoursed with them in Danish, and found -their idiom perfectly intelligible.<a id="FNanchor_370" href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a></p> - -<p>This was a theme peculiarly suited to Mezzofanti’s -powers. His essay excited considerable interest at -the time, but unfortunately was never printed.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1817-1820.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Southey, in one of his pleasant gossiping letters to -Bedford, tells that when M. de Sagrie was going to -publish a French translation of Southey’s “Roderick,” -his publisher, Le Bel, insisted upon having a life of the -poet prefixed. M. de Sagrie objected; and at last, in -order to get rid of the printer’s importunities, said -that he knew nothing whatever of the life of Mr. -Southey. “N’importe!” was the printer’s cool reply, -“Ecrivez toujours, brodez! Brodez-la un peu; que -ce soit vrai ou non, ce ne fait rien.”<a id="FNanchor_371" href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a></p> - -<p>We have come to a part of Mezzofanti’s quiet and -uniform life in which there are so few incidents to -break the monotony of the uneventful narrative, that, -at least in so far as its interest is concerned, his -biographer is almost in the same condition with M. -de Sagrie. The true purpose of this narrative, however—to -exhibit the faculty rather than the man—seems<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> -to me to depend less on the accumulation of piquant -anecdotes and striking adventures, than upon a calm -and truthful survey of his intellectual attainments in -the successive stages of his career. Instead, therefore, -of having recourse to the device suggested by De -Sagrie’s enterprising publisher, and supplying, by a -little ingenious “broderie,” the deficiency of exciting -incident, I shall content myself with weaving together, -in the order of time, the several notices of Mezzofanti, -by travellers and others, which have come within -my reach; interspersing such explanations, incidents, -illustrations, and anecdotes, as I have been able to -glean, among the scanty memorials of this period which -have survived. Fortunately, from the year which we -have now reached, there exists a tolerably connected -series of such sketches. They are, of course, from -the most various hands—from authors</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">of all tongues and creeds;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some were those who counted beads,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some of mosque, and some of church,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And some, or I mis-say, of neither;—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">but their value, it need hardly be said, is enhanced -by this very variety. Proceeding from so many independent -sources, produced for the most part, too, -upon the spot, and in the order of time in which they -appear in the narrative;—these unconnected sketches -may be believed to present, if a less minute and -circumstantial, certainly a more vivid as well as -more reliable, portraiture of Mezzofanti, than could -be hoped even from the daily scrutiny of familiar -friends, intimately conversant with his every day life,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span> -but always viewing his character from the same unvarying -point, and rather submitting the result of -their own matured observations of what Mezzofanti -seemed to them to be, than affording materials for a -calm and dispassionate estimate of what he really -was. Nor must it be forgotten that no single chronicler, -even had he the circumstantiality of a Boswell, -could be capable of keeping a record of Mezzofanti’s life, -which could be available as the foundation of a satisfactory -judgment as to the real extent and nature of -his linguistic accomplishment. It is only another -Mezzofanti who would be a competent witness on -such a question; and, in default of a single Polyglot -critic of his attainments in all the languages which -he is supposed to have known, we shall best consult -the interests of truth and science, by considering -severally, in reference to each of these languages, -the judgment formed regarding his performance therein -by those whose native language it was.</p> - -<p>I have already said that the office of librarian -brought him into contact with most of the strangers, -especially of the literary class, who visited Bologna. -In Bolognese society, too, he was more courted and -sought after than his modest and retiring disposition -would have desired. In the house of the Cardinal-Archbishop -Opizzoni, and of the Cardinal Legates, -Lanti, and Spina, he was always an honoured guest. -With several of the noble families of the city, especially -the Marescalchi, the Angelelli, the Amerini, and the -Zambeccari, he lived on terms of the closest intimacy. -The Cavaliere Pezzana mentions that when, on a visit to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span> -Bologna in 1817, he was dining at the first named -palace, Mezzofanti came in uninvited, and almost as -one of the family. At all these houses his opportunities -of meeting foreigners of every race and language -may easily be believed to have been frequent, and of -the most various character.</p> - -<p>The earliest English visitor of the Abate Mezzofanti -whom I have been able to discover is Mr. Harford, -author of the recent “Life of Michael Angelo -Buonarroti,”<a id="FNanchor_372" href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> and proprietor of the valuable gallery -of Blaise Castle, which Dr. Waagen describes in his -“Treasures of Art in England.”<a id="FNanchor_373" href="#Footnote_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a></p> - -<p>Mr. Harford visited Bologna in the autumn of 1817, -at which time he first made Mezzofanti’s acquaintance. -He renewed the acquaintance subsequently at Rome, -and on both occasions had a full opportunity of observing -and of testing his extraordinary gift of language. -Mr. Harford has kindly communicated to me his -recollections of Mezzofanti at both these periods of -life, which, (although the latter part anticipates the -order of time by nearly thirty years,) may most naturally -be inserted together.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I first made the acquaintance of the Abbé Mezzofanti,” -writes Mr. Harford, “at the table of Cardinal Lanti, brother of -the Duke of Lanti, then Legate of Bologna. This was in the -year 1817. The Cardinal was then living at the public palace -at Bologna, but I had previously known him in Rome. He was -a man of highly cultivated mind, and of gentlemanly and agreeable -manners. He made his guests perfectly at their ease, and I well<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span> -recollect, after dinner, forming one of a group around Abbé -Mezzofanti, and listening with deep interest to his animated -conversation, which had reference, in consequence of questions -put to him, to various topics, illustrating his wonderful acquaintance -with the principal languages of the world. Report, at this -time, gave him credit for being master of upwards of forty -languages; and I recollect, among other things, his giving proof -of his familiar acquaintance with the Welsh. I had some particular -conversation with him upon the origin of what is called -Saxon, Norman, and Lombard architecture, and I remember his -entire accordance with the opinion I threw out, that it resolved -itself in each case into a corruption of Roman architecture.</p> - -<p>“My next interview with him was after a long lapse of time, -for I did not meet him again till the year 1846, the winter of -which I passed in Rome. The Abbé was then changed into the -Cardinal Mezzofanti. I found him occupying a handsome suite -of apartments in a palazzo in the Piazza Santi Apostoli. He -assured me he well remembered meeting Mrs. H. and myself -at Cardinal Lanti’s, on the occasion above referred to; and in the -course of several visits which I paid him during the winter and -ensuing spring, his conversation was always animated and agreeable. -He conversed with me in English, which he spoke with -the utmost fluency and correctness, and only with a slight foreign -accent. His familiar knowledge of our provincial dialects quite -surprised me. ‘Do you know much of the Yorkshire dialect?’ -he said to me: and then, with much humour, gave me various -specimens of its peculiarities; ‘and your <i>Zummersetshire</i> dialect,’ -he went on to say, laughing as he spoke, and imitating it.</p> - -<p>“On another occasion he spoke to me with high admiration of -the style of Addison, preferring it to that of any English author -with whom he was acquainted. He commended its ease, elegance, -and grace; and then contrasted it with the grandiloquence of -Johnson, whose powerful mind and copious fancy he also greatly -admired, though he deemed him much inferior in real wit and -taste to Addison. In all this I fully agreed with him; and then -inquired whether he had ever read Boswell’s Life of Johnson, -and, finding he had not, I told him he must allow me to send it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span> -to him, as I felt assured, from the interest he displayed in our -English literature, it would much amuse and delight him. This -promise I subsequently fulfilled.<a id="FNanchor_374" href="#Footnote_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a></p> - -<p>“Speaking to me about an English lady with whom I was well -acquainted, he eagerly inquired, ‘<i>Is she a blue-stocking?</i>’</p> - -<p>“He one day talked to me about the Chinese language and -its difficulties, and told me that some time back a gentleman who -had resided in China visited him. ‘I concluded,’ he added, -‘that I might address him in Chinese, and did so;—but, after -exchanging a few sentences with me, he begged that we might -pursue our conversation in French. We talked, however, long -enough for me to discover that he spoke in <i>the Canton dialect</i>.’</p> - -<p>“That one who had never set his foot out of Italy should be -thus able in an instant to detect the little peculiarities of dialect -in a man who had lived in China, did, I acknowledge, strike me -with astonishment.</p> - -<p>“This sort of critical sagacity in languages enabled the -Cardinal to render important services to the Propaganda College -at Rome, in which he held a high office. I was not only struck -with the fluency, but with the rapidity with which he spoke the -English language, and, I might also add, the idiomatic correctness -of his expressions.</p> - -<p>“So much of celebrity attached itself to his name that -foreigners of distinction gladly sought occasions of making his -acquaintance. On being ushered into his presence on one of my -visits I found him surrounded by a large party of admirers, -including several ladies, who all appeared highly delighted with -his animated conversation.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>We shall have other opportunities of adverting to -his curiously minute acquaintance, not only with -English literature, but even with the provincial -dialects of English, by which Mr. Harford was so -much struck. But, as some difference of opinion has<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span> -been expressed with regard to his acquaintance -with Welsh, I think it right to note the circumstance -that Mr. Harford distinctly remembers him, as -early as 1817, to have given “proofs of familiar -acquaintance” with that language.<a id="FNanchor_375" href="#Footnote_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a></p> - -<p>Somewhat later in the same year, November, 1817, -Mr. Stewart Rose visited Mezzofanti. The ordeal to -which his linguistic powers were submitted in Mr. -Rose’s presence was more severe and more varied -than that witnessed by Mr. Harford; the former -having heard him tried in German, Greek, and Turkish, -as well as in English. But as we shall have -abundant independent testimony for each of these, Mr. -Rose’s testimony is specially important, as recording -the exceeding accuracy of Mezzofanti’s English, -which he tested by “long and repeated conversations.”</p> - -<p>“As this country,” he writes, “has been fertile in -every variety of genius, from that which handles the -pencil to that which sweeps the skies with the telescope; -so even in this, her least favourite beat, she -has produced men who, in early life, have embraced -such a circle of languages, as one should hardly -imagine their ages would have enabled them to obtain. -Thus the wonders which are related of one of these, -Pico di Mirandola, I always considered fabulous, till -I was myself the witness of acquisitions which can -scarcely be considered less extraordinary.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span></p> - -<p>“The living lion to whom I allude is Signor Mezzofanti -of Bologna, who when I saw him, though he -was only thirty-six years old, read twenty and wrote -eighteen languages. This is the least marvellous part -of the story. He spoke all these fluently, and those -of which I could judge with the most extraordinary -precision. I had the pleasure of dining with him -formerly in the house of a Bolognese lady, at whose -table a German officer declared he could not have -distinguished him from a German. He passed the -whole of the next day with G—— and myself, and -G— told me he should have taken him for an -Englishman, who had been some time out of England. -A Smyrniote servant who was with me, bore equal -testimony to his skill in other languages, and declared -he might pass for a Greek or a Turk in the dominions -of the Grand Seignior. But what most surprised -me was his accuracy; for, during long and repeated -conversations in English, he never once misapplied -the <i>sign</i> of a tense, that fearful stumblingblock to -Scotch and Irish, in whose writings there is always -to be found some abuse of these undefinable niceties. -The marvel was, if possible, rendered more marvellous -by this gentleman’s accomplishments and information, -things rare in linguists, who generally mistake -the means for the end. It ought also to be stated -that his various acquisitions had all been made in -Bologna, from which, when I saw him, he had never -wandered above thirty miles.”<a id="FNanchor_376" href="#Footnote_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span></p> - -<p>Mr. Rose was mistaken in supposing that Mezzofanti -at this time was but thirty-six years old. He -was in reality forty-three; but the testimony which he -bears to his “general accomplishments and information” -will be found to be confirmed by very many succeeding -travellers.</p> - -<p>It was earlier in the same year, probably in June, -on his return from Rome to Venice,<a id="FNanchor_377" href="#Footnote_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> that Lord -Byron first saw Mezzofanti. The extract given by -Moore from his Journal, in which he describes the impressions -made upon him by their intercourse has no -date attached; but as he also alludes to Mezzofanti as -among “the great names of Italy” in the Dedication -of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, which is dated -January, 2nd, 1818, it would seem likely that he had -met him at least before that date.<a id="FNanchor_378" href="#Footnote_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> Of the particulars -of their intercourse no record is preserved; but -Mezzofanti always spoke with profound interest of -his noble visitor. He was perfectly familiar with his -poetry. The late Dr. Cox of Southampton assured -me that his criticism of the several poems, and especially -of Childe Harold, would do credit to our best -reviews. And he often expressed the deepest regret -for the early and unhappy fate, by which this gifted -man was called away while he still lay in the shadow -of that cold and gloomy scepticism which so often -marred his better impulses, and—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Flung o’er all that’s warm and bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The winter of an icy creed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“Alas!” he one day said to M. Manavit, “that -desolating scepticism which had long oppressed his -soul, was not natural to such a mind. Sooner or -later he would have awakened from it. And then it -only remained for him to open the most glorious page -in his Childe Harold’s adventurous Pilgrimage—that -in which, reviewing all his doubts, his struggles, and -his sorrows, and laying bare the deep wounds of his -haughty soul, he should have sought rest from them -all in the peaceful bosom of the faith of his fathers.”<a id="FNanchor_379" href="#Footnote_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a></p> - -<p>Such a feeling as this on the part of Mezzofanti -gives a melancholy interest to the well-known passage, -half laughing, half admiring, in which Byron records -his recollections of the great linguist.</p> - -<p>“In general,” he says, “I do not draw well with -literary men;—not that I dislike them; but I never -knew what to say to them, after I have praised their -last publication. There are several exceptions, to be -sure; but then they have either been men of the -world, such as Scott and Moore, &c., or visionaries -out of it, such as Shelley, &c.; but your literary -every-day man and I never met well in company;—especially -your foreigners, whom I never could abide, -except Giordani, &c., &c., &c., (I really can’t name -any other.) I don’t remember a man amongst them -whom I ever wished to see twice, except perhaps -Mezzophanti, who is a monster of languages, the -Briareus of parts of speech, a walking polyglot, and -more;—who ought to have existed at the time of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> -Tower of Babel, as universal interpreter.<a id="FNanchor_380" href="#Footnote_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> He is, indeed, -a marvel—unassuming also. I tried him in -all the tongues in which I knew a single oath or -adjuration to the gods, against post-boys, savages, -Tartars, boatmen, sailors, pilots, gondoliers, muleteers, -camel-drivers, vetturini, post-masters, post-houses, -post, everything; and egad! he astounded -me—even to my English.”</p> - -<p>The Abbé Gaume adds, in reference to the last of -these languages, an anecdote still current in Rome, -though doubtless a mere exaggeration<a id="FNanchor_381" href="#Footnote_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> of the real story; -viz., that, “when Byron had exhausted his vocabulary -of English slang, Mezzofanti quietly asked: ‘And is -that all?’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span></p> - -<p>‘I can go no further.’ replied the noble poet, -‘unless I coin words for the purpose.’</p> - -<p>‘Pardon me, my Lord,’ rejoined Mezzofanti; and -proceeded to repeat for him a variety of the refinements -of London slang, till then unknown to his -visitor’s rich vocabulary!”<a id="FNanchor_382" href="#Footnote_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a></p> - -<p>During the winter of 1817-8, a literary society -was formed in Bologna for the cultivation of poetry -and the publication of literary and scientific essays, -of which Mezzofanti was appointed president.</p> - -<p>The original members of this body were twenty-one -in number, and included Ranzani, Angelelli, Mezzofanti’s -nephew, Giuseppe Minarelli, several professors, -both of the University, and of the Academia delle -Belle Arti, and some literary noblemen and gentlemen -of the city. They met occasionally for readings and -recitations; and printed a serial collection, called -<i>Opuscoli Letterarj di Bologna</i>. I had hopes of -learning something from the records of this society, or -from the recollections of its members, which might -tend to illustrate the history of Mezzofanti’s studies at -this period: but, unhappily, not a single original member -of the society is now living; and their only publication -available for the purposes of this biography is -Mezzofanti’s own <i>Discorso in Lode del P. Aponte</i>;—his -solitary publication, which was printed in the -<i>Opuscoli Letterarj</i>, in 1820.</p> - -<p>Mezzofanti continued, even after the formation of -this society, to frequent the meetings of the Academy -of the Institute. On the 3rd of December, 1818, he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span> -read a paper in this Academy, “on a remarkable -Mexican MS., preserved in the Library of the Institute.” -This paper was most probably the basis of the -Essay upon the Mexican Calendar already alluded to. -As it entered minutely into the whole subject of the -hieroglyphical writings of the Mexicans, and discussed -at some length the opinions of all the various writers -on Mexican antiquities down to Humboldt, the paper -created very considerable interest in the Academy, -and was spoken of with praise by the literary -journals of the day.<a id="FNanchor_383" href="#Footnote_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a></p> - -<p>The visit of the Emperor Francis I. of Austria -to Bologna in 1819, contributed still more to -establish the reputation of Mezzofanti. Having -appointed an interview with him, the Emperor -took the precaution of securing during the -audience the presence of a number of members of his -suite, carefully selected so as to represent the chief -languages of the Austrian Empire. Each in turn, -German, Magyar, Bohemian, Wallachian, Illyrian, -and Pole, took occasion to address the astonished -professor; but although naturally somewhat startled -by the novelty of the scene, and perhaps abashed by -the presence of royalty, he replied with such perfect -fluency and correctness to each, “as to extort not -merely approval but admiration and applause.”<a id="FNanchor_384" href="#Footnote_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a></p> - -<p>The year 1819 is further notable as the date of -Mezzofanti’s only published composition, the above-named -panegyric of his early friend and instructor -Emanuel Aponte. The death of this excellent and -venerable man had occurred more than three years<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span> -earlier, (November 22, 1815), and his funeral -oration had been pronounced by Filippo Schiassi, the -professor of numismatics, as also by Pacifico Deani, -whose discourse was translated into Spanish by Don -Camillo Salina. Aponte’s grateful pupil, nevertheless, -took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the -opening of the public studies of the university, to -offer his own especial tribute to the piety and learning -of the good old father, and particularly to the excellence -of his method of teaching the Greek language -and the merits of a Grammar which he had published -for the use of the higher schools.</p> - -<p>The Discourse is chiefly occupied (after a sketch of -Aponte’s life and character) with a criticism of the -method pursued in this Grammar,—a criticism chiefly -noticeable as embodying the method, (which we know -from other sources to have been the speaker’s own,) -of studying a language rather by rhythm than -by rule; “by ascertaining its normal structure, the -principle which governs its inflexions, and especially -the dominant principle which regulates the changes -of letters according to the different organs of -speech.”</p> - -<p>As a specimen of this general manner of the Discourse, -I shall translate the concluding paragraphs,—the -exhortation to the study of Greek literature with -which the professor takes leave of his audience.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“And still shall these studies flourish, my dear young friends, -perpetuated by you under the guidance of the instructions which -Father Emanuel bequeathed to us. His method, which, in -the acquisition of the language, rather exercises the reason than<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> -burdens the memory, and which makes good sense the chief basis -for the right interpretation of an author, will assuredly conduct -to the desired end that ardour which, on this solemn occasion, -you feel renewed within you: an ardour so great that, had I -to-day spoken solely of the difficulties and obstacles in the path of -learning, it would, nevertheless, give you strength and courage to -encounter and overcome them. Well, therefore, may we have confidence -in you, and believe that you will preserve to your native -land the fame achieved by your forefathers in Grecian studies. -These studies are the special inheritance of our countrymen. In -Italy the muses of Greece sought an asylum, when they fled -before the invader from their ancient glorious abode. Learned -Greeks were at that period dispersed through our principal cities, -where, establishing schools, they found munificent patrons and -zealous pupils. In Rome Grecian literature enjoyed the generous -patronage of Nicholas V.; and around Cardinal Bessarion -were gathered men of vast erudition, who renewed the lustre of the -old Athenian schools, cultivating a wiser philosophy, however, -than the ancients employed; and, thanks to the precious volumes -accumulated by those two illustrious Mæcenases and by the princes -of Italy; thanks to the skill of the masters and the aptitude -and excellence of Italian genius, Grecian literature, conjointly -with Latin, quickly attained the highest pitch of cultivation -amongst us, ushering in the golden age of Italian letters. A -countless series of names distinguished in this branch of learning -presents itself before me: but I delight rather to consider in -prospect the future series which begins in you. Be not disturbed -by any fear that the pursuit to which I am exhorting you will hinder -the profounder study of the sciences. Alas, very different are the -thoughts, very different, indeed, the cares which distract the mind -of youth and turn its generous fervour aside, miserably disappointing -the bright hopes that were formed of it. No: theologians, -lawyers, philosophers, physicians, mathematicians, all -men of science and learning, have ever found in the Greek literature -their most agreeable solace. Many of the sciences had, -in Greece, early reached a high degree of perfection; others made -a noble beginning in that country; most of them are embellished<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span> -with titles borrowed from its language; and all of them have recourse -to Greek when they wish, with precision and dignity, to denominate, -and thereby to define, the objects of their consideration. -‘These studies,’ says one who owed much of his eloquence to the -industry with which he cultivated them, ‘furnish youth with profitable -and delightful knowledge; they amuse maturer years; -they adorn prosperity, and in adversity afford an asylum from -care; they delight us in the quiet of home, and are no hindrance -in affairs of the gravest moment; they discover for us many a -useful thing; for the traveller they procure the regard of strangers, -and, in the solitude of the country, they solace the mind with the -purest of pleasures.’ Let your main study, then, be the sterner sciences; -Greek shall follow as a faithful companion, affording you -useful assistance therein as well as delightful recreation. And -thus, thinking of nothing else, having nothing else at heart, than -religion and learning, let the expectations of your friends and of -your country be fulfilled in you. Thus shall you correspond with -the paternal designs of our best of princes, His Holiness, the Sovereign -Pontiff, who, in his munificence and splendour, daily enlarges -the dignity of this illustrious University, promoting, by wise provisions, -your education and your glory. And, whilst you vigorously -prosecute the career so well begun, while your love for Greek -increases with the increasing profit you derive from it, I, too, -will exult in your brilliant, progress. To this I will look for -a monument, truly durable and immortal, of my dear Father -Emanuel, to whom I feel myself bound by eternal gratitude; -since gratitude, reverence, and devotion are surely due -to them who, by example and by precept, point out to us the -road to virtue and to learning, inviting and exhorting us, with -loving solicitude, to direct our lives to praiseworthy pursuits and -to true happiness.”<a id="FNanchor_385" href="#Footnote_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> (pp. 22-26.)</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span></p> - -<p>Soon after the death of Father Aponte, Mezzofanti -had the further grief of losing his friend, the celebrated -Signora Clotilda Tambroni, who, although -considerably older than he, had been, as we have seen, -his fellow pupil under Father Aponte, and with whom -he had ever afterwards continued upon terms of most -intimate friendship. Like Mezzofanti, the Signora -Tambroni was, after the publication of the concordat, -reinstated in the Greek professorship from which she -had been dispossessed at the occupation of Bologna -by the French. She was an excellent linguist, being -familiar with Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, and -English,<a id="FNanchor_386" href="#Footnote_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> and a poetess of some reputation, not only -in her own, but also in the learned languages.<a id="FNanchor_387" href="#Footnote_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> The -Breslau professor, already referred to, Herr Kephalides, -was much interested by her conversation; and -that the interest which she created did not arise -merely from the unusual circumstance of a lady’s -devoting herself to such studies, but from her own -unquestioned learning and ability, is attested by all -who knew her. “It was a pleasant thing,” says Lady -Morgan,<a id="FNanchor_388" href="#Footnote_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> “to hear her learned coadjutor [Mezzofanti] -in describing to us the good qualities of her -heart, do ample justice to the profound learning which -had raised her to an equality of collegiate rank -with himself, without an innuendo at that erudition, -which, in England, is a greater female stigma than -vice itself.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span></p> - -<p>The lively but caustic authoress just named, visited -Italy in 1819-20. In her account of Bologna she -devotes a note to the Abate Mezzofanti, under whose -escort, (which she recognises as a peculiar advantage,) -she visited the library and museum of the University.</p> - -<p>“The well-known Abate Mezzofanti, librarian to -the Institute,” she writes, “was of our party. Conversing -with this very learned person on the subject of his -‘forty languages,’ he smiled at the exaggeration, and -said, that although he had gone over the outline of forty -languages, he was not master of them, as he had -dropped such as had not books worth reading. His -Greek master, being a Spaniard, taught him Spanish. -The German, Polish, Bohemian, and Hungarian -tongues he originally acquired during the occupation -of Bologna by the Austrian power; and afterwards -he had learned French from the French, and English -by reading and by conversing with English travellers. -With all this superfluity of languages, he spoke -nothing but Bolognese in his own family. With us, -he always spoke English, and with scarcely any -accent, though I believe he has never been out of -Bologna. His tone of phrase and peculiar selection -of words were those of the ‘Spectator;’ and it is -probable that he was most conversant with the English -works of that day. The Abate Mezzofanti was -professor of the Greek and Oriental languages under -the French: when Buonaparte abolished the Greek -professorship, Mezzofanti was pensioned off. He was -again made Greek professor by the Austrians, again<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span> -set aside by the French, and again restored by the -Pope.”<a id="FNanchor_389" href="#Footnote_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a></p> - -<p>Like most of Lady Morgan’s sketches, this account of -Mezzofanti, although interesting, is not free from inaccuracies. -Thus she falls into the common error -already noticed, that Mezzofanti up to this time “had -never been out of Bologna,” and a still more important -mistake as to the cause of his first deprivation of -his professorship. He was dispossessed of this professorship, -(which, it may be added, was not of -Greek but of Arabic,) not because the professorship -was suppressed, but because he declined to take the -oaths to the new government. The account of his -second deprivation is also inaccurate; and the assertion -that he never cultivated any languages except -those which “had books worth reading,” we shall see -hereafter, to be entirely without foundation.</p> - -<p>The statement too, that “he spoke only Bolognese in -his own family” is an exaggeration. With the elder -members of the family—his father, his mother, and -his sister, Signora Minarelli—it was so; and there was -a cousin of his, named Antonia Mezzofanti, a lively -and agreeable old dame, and a frequent guest at the -house of his sister, to whom he was much attached, -and with whom he delighted to converse in the pleasant -dialect of Bologna. But the children of his sister -were all well educated, and, like the educated classes -throughout all the provincial cities of Italy, habitually -spoke the common and classical Italian language. -Even after Mezzofanti came to Rome, when questioned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span> -as to the number of languages that he spoke, -he often used jestingly to reply: “fifty, and Bolognese.”<a id="FNanchor_390" href="#Footnote_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a></p> - -<p>Very nearly at the same time with Lady Morgan’s -interview, Mezzofanti was visited by a tourist far -more competent to form a just opinion of the extent -of his attainments—M. Molbech, a Danish scholar, -author of a Tour in Germany, France, England, -and Italy. I shall close the chapter with his testimony. -It is chiefly valuable, in reference to his own -language, the Danish, in which he had an opportunity -of fully testing Mezzofanti’s knowledge, in -an interview of nearly two hours’ duration. It is clear, -too, from the very tone of his narrative, that, while he -carried away the highest admiration for the extraordinary -man whom he had seen, he was by no means disposed -to fall into that blind and indiscriminate eulogy -of which other less instructed and more imaginative -visitors have been accused.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“At last, in the afternoon,” he writes, “I succeeded in meeting -one of the living wonders of Italy, the librarian Mezzofanti, -with whom I had only spoken for a few moments in the gallery,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span> -when I passed through Bologna before: I now spent a couple of -hours with him, at his lodgings in the university building, and -at the library, and would willingly, for his sake alone, have prolonged -my stay at Bologna for a couple of days, if I had not -been bound by contract with the vetturino as far as Venice. His -celebrity must be an inconvenience to him; for scarcely any -educated traveller leaves Bologna without having paid him a -visit, and the hired guides never omit to mention his name among -the first curiosities of the town. This learned Italian, who has -never been so far from his birthplace, Bologna, as to Florence or -Rome, is certainly one of the world’s greatest geniuses in point -of languages. I do not know the number he understands, but -there is scarcely any European dialect, whether Romanic, Scandinavian, -or Slavonic, that this miraculous polyglottist does not -speak. It is said the total amounts to more than thirty languages; -and among them is that of the gipsies, which he learned -to speak from a gipsy who was quartered with an Hungarian -regiment at Bologna.</p> - -<p>“I found a German with him, with whom he was conversing -in fluent and well sounding German; when we were alone, and -I began to speak to him in the same language, he interrupted -me with a question in Danish, ‘Hvorledes har det behaget dem i -Italien?’ (‘How have you been pleased with Italy?’) After -this, he pursued the conversation in Danish, by his own desire, -almost all the time I continued with him, as this, according to -his own polite expression, was a pleasure he did not often enjoy; -and he spoke the language, from want of exercise, certainly not -with the same fluency and ease as English or German, but with -almost entire correctness. Imagine my delight at such a conversation! -Of Danish books, however, I found in his rich and -excellent philological collection no more than Baden’s Grammar, -and Hallage’s Norwegian Vocabulary; and in the library Haldorson’s -Icelandic Dictionary, in which he made me read him a -couple of pages of the preface as a lesson in pronunciation. Our -conversation turned mostly on Northern and German literature. -The last he is pretty minutely acquainted with; and he is very -fond of German poetry, which he has succeeded in bringing into<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span> -fashion with the ladies of Bologna, so that Schiller and Goethe, -whom the Romans hardly know by name, are here read in the -original, and their works are to be had in the library. This collection -occupies a finely-built saloon, in which it is arranged in -dark presses with wire gratings, and is said to contain about -120,000 volumes. Besides Mezzofanti, there are an under librarian, -two assistants, and three other servants. Books are -bought to the amount of about 1000 scudi, or more than 200<i>l.</i> -sterling, a year. Mezzofanti is not merely a linguist, but is well -acquainted with literary history and biography, and also with -the library under his charge. As an author he is not known, so -far as I am aware; and he seems at present to be no older than -about forty. I must add, what perhaps would be least expected -from a learned man who has been unceasingly occupied with -linguistic studies, and has hardly been out of his native town, -that he has the finest and most polished manners, and, at the -same time, the most engaging good nature.”<a id="FNanchor_391" href="#Footnote_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>Herr Molbech is still the chief secretary of -the Royal Library in Copenhagen. He is one of the -most distinguished writers on Danish philology; -his great Danish Dictionary<a id="FNanchor_392" href="#Footnote_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> is the classical authority -on the language; and, in recognition of his great -literary merits, he has been created a privy councillor -and a commander of the Danebrog order.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1820-1828.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Mezzofanti’s regular studies suffered some interruption -in the early part of 1820. Debilitated by the -excessive and protracted application which has been -described, his health had for some time been gradually -giving way, and at last he was peremptorily ordered -to suspend his lectures, and to discontinue his private -studies for six months.<a id="FNanchor_393" href="#Footnote_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> During this interval -he employed himself chiefly in botanizing, a study in -which he is said to have made considerable progress. -He also made a short excursion to the beautiful -district of Mantua, and afterwards to Modena, -Pisa, and Leghorn.<a id="FNanchor_394" href="#Footnote_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> In the course of this journey -he found an opportunity of making himself acquainted -with the Hebrew Psalmody as followed in the -modern synagogues, and with the practical system of -accentuation of the ancient Hebrew Language now -in use among the Jews of Italy. The object of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> -visit to Leghorn was, that, from the Greek sailors of -that port, he might acquire the pronunciation of -modern Romaic.<a id="FNanchor_395" href="#Footnote_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a></p> - -<p>After a short time his health was perfectly restored, -with the exception of a certain debility of sight from -which he never afterwards completely recovered; and -he resumed his ordinary duties in the university -about the middle of the year 1820.</p> - -<p>The solar eclipse of the 20th of September in that -year attracted many scientific visitors to Bologna and -the neighbouring cities. Being annular in that region, -the eclipse was watched with especial interest by -all the astronomers of Northern Italy, by Plana at -Turin, by Santini at Padua, by Padre Inghirami at -Florence, and by Padre Tinari at Siena. At Bologna -the director of the observatory at this time was -Pietro Caturegli, editor of the Bolognese <i>Efemeridi -Astronomiche</i>, and one of Mezzofanti’s most valued -friends.</p> - -<p>Caturegli’s reputation and the excellent condition -of his observatory, induced the celebrated Hungarian -Astronomer, Baron Von Zach, who, after a career of -much and varied adventure, was at that time engaged -in editing at Genoa the Correspondance Astronomique, -(a French continuation of his former German Journal -<i>Monatliche Correspondenz für Erz- und Himmels-Kunde</i>,) -to select Bologna as the place from which -to observe this interesting phenomenon. He was -accompanied by a Russian nobleman, Prince Volkonski,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> -a man of highly cultivated literary and -scientific tastes, and by Captain Smyth of H. M. -Ship, <i>Aid</i>, who had just completed his survey of the -Ionian Islands. Notwithstanding numerous and -urgent applications from other quarters, these three -distinguished foreigners, together with his friend -Mezzofanti, were the only persons whom Caturegli -admitted to the observatory during his observations -of the eclipse.</p> - -<p>The Baron published in his Journal<a id="FNanchor_396" href="#Footnote_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> a very full -account of the phenomena of the eclipse, to which -he appended as a note the following sketch of his -companion on the occasion.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“The annular eclipse of the sun,” he writes, “was one curiosity -for us, and Signor Mezzofanti was another. This extraordinary -man is really a rival of Mithridates; he speaks thirty-two languages, -living and dead, in the manner I am going to describe. -He accosted me in Hungarian, and with a compliment so well -turned, and in such excellent Magyar, that I was quite taken by -surprise and stupefied. He afterwards spoke to me in German, -at first in good Saxon (the <i>Crusca</i> of the Germans,) and then in -the Austrian and Swabian dialects, with a correctness of accent -that amazed me to the last degree, and made me burst into a fit -of laughter at the thought of the contrast between the language -and the appearance of this astonishing professor. He spoke -English to Captain Smyth, Russian and Polish to Prince Volkonski, -not stuttering and stammering, but with the same volubility -as if he had been speaking his mother tongue, the dialect -of Bologna. I was quite unable to tear myself away from him. -At a dinner at the cardinal legate’s, Della Spina, his eminence -placed me at table next him; after having chatted with him in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> -several languages, all of which he spoke much better than I did, -it came into my head to address to him on a sudden some words -of Wallachian. Without hesitation, and without appearing to -remark what an out-of-the-way dialect I had branched off to, off -went my polyglot in the same language, and so fast, that I was -obliged to say to him; ‘Gently, gently, Mr. Abbé; I really -can’t follow you; I am at the end of my Latin-Wallachian.’ It -was more than forty years since I had spoken the language, or -even thought of it, though I knew it very well in my youth, -when I served in an Hungarian regiment, and was in garrison at -Transylvania. The professor was not only more ready in the -language than I, but he informed me on this occasion, that he -knew another tongue that I had never been able to get hold of, -though I had enjoyed better opportunities of doing so than he, -as I formerly had men that spoke it in my regiment.</p> - -<p>“This was the language of the Zigans, or Gipsies, whom the -French so improperly call Bohemians, at which the good and -genuine Bohemians, that is to say, the inhabitants of the kingdom -of Bohemia, are not a little indignant. But how could an -Italian abbé, who had never been out of his native town, find -means to learn a language that is neither written nor printed? -In the Italian wars an Hungarian regiment was in garrison at -Bologna: the language-loving professor discovered a gipsy in it, -and made him his teacher; and, with the facility and happy memory -that nature has gifted him with, he was soon master of the -language, which, it is believed, is nothing but a dialect, and a -corrupted one into the bargain, of some tribes of Parias of Hindostan.”<a id="FNanchor_397" href="#Footnote_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>The wide and peculiar circulation of the journal -in which this interesting sketch appeared, contributed -more than any previous notice to extend the fame of -Mezzofanti. As might naturally be expected, however, -details so marvellous, were received with considerable -incredulity by some, and were explained away -by others as mere embellishments of a traveller’s tale.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> -In consequence, Von Zach, in a subsequent number of -his journal, not only reiterated the statement, but -added fuller and more interesting particulars regarding -it.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Many persons have doubted,” he writes, “what we said of this -astonishing professor of Bologna in our fourth volume; as there -have also been persons who doubted what Valerius Maximus relates -of the analogous talents of Cyrus and Mithridates. -Although all historians have the character of being a little given -to lying, Valerius, notwithstanding, passes for a sufficiently -veracious author. He says in the eighth book and 9th chapter of -his History, or rather of his Compendium of History: <i>Cyrus ommium -militum suorum nomina, Mithridates duarum et viginti -gentium quæ sub regno ejus erant linguas, ediscendo</i>. People -who came several centuries after, and who probably did not know -more than one language, and possibly not even that one correctly, -have pretended that the twenty-two languages of Mithridates -were only different dialects, and that Cyrus only knew the names -of his generals. It may be so; we know nothing of the reality, -and consequently shall not contradict those critics; but what we -do know is, that Signor Mezzofanti speaks very good German, -Hungarian, Slavonic, Wallachian, Russian, Polish, French and -English. I have mentioned my authorities. It has been said -that Prince Volkonski and Captain Smyth gave their testimony -in favour of this wonderful professor, out of politeness only. But -I asked the prince alone, how the professor spoke Russian, and -he told me he should be very glad if his own son spoke it as well. -The child spoke English and French better than Russian, having -always been in foreign countries with his father. The captain -said, ‘the professor speaks English better than I do; we sailors -knock the language to pieces on board our vessels, where we have -Scotch and Irish, and foreigners of all sorts; there is often an odd -sort of jargon spoken in a ship; the professor speaks with correctness, -and even with elegance; it is easy to see that he has studied -the language.’</p> - -<p>“M. Mezzofanti came one day to see me at the hotel where I -was staying: I happened not to be in my own rooms, but on a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span> -visit to another traveller who lodged in the same hotel, Baron -Ulmenstein, a colonel in the King of Hanover’s service, who was -travelling with his lady. M. Mezzofanti was brought to me; and, -as I was the only person who knew him, I introduced him to the -company as a professor and librarian of the university. He took -part in the conversation, which was carried on in German; and, -after this had gone on for a considerable time, the baroness took -an opportunity of asking me aside, how it came to pass that a -German was a professor and librarian in an Italian university. -I replied, that M. Mezzofanti was no German, that he was a very -good Italian, of that city of Bologna, and had never been out of -it. Judge of the astonishment of all the company, and of the -explanations that followed! My readers, I am sure, will not think -such a testimony as the Baroness Ulmenstein’s open to any suspicion. -She is a thorough German, highly cultivated, and speaks -four languages in great perfection.”<a id="FNanchor_398" href="#Footnote_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>One result of the doubts thus expressed as to the -credibility of Von Zach’s report was to draw out a testimony -to Mezzofanti’s familiarity with a language for -which he had not before publicly gotten credit, the -Czechish or Bohemian. A correspondent of the Baron -at Vienna, having read his statement in the <i>Correspondance</i>, -expressed his satisfaction at the confirmation -which it supplied of what he had before regarded -as incredible.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I was very glad,” he writes, “to see confirmed by you what -the Chevalier d’Odelga, colonel and commandant of Prince Leopold -of Naples’ regiment, told me of that marvellous man. Chevalier -d’Odelga, who is a Bohemian, conversed in that language with -M. Mezzofanti, and assured me that he would have taken him for -a countryman had he not known him to be an Italian. I frankly -confess that until now, I only half believed the tale, for I regard -the Bohemian language as the very rack of an Italian tongue.”<a id="FNanchor_399" href="#Footnote_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span></p> - -<p>Captain (afterwards admiral) Smyth, who accompanied -Baron von Zach on this occasion, still survives, -after a career of high professional as well as -literary and scientific distinction. As a reply to the -incredulity to which Von Zach alludes, I may add -not only that Admiral Smyth in his “Cycle of Celestial -Objects for the Use of Astronomers,” adopts the -Baron’s narrative and reprints it at length,<a id="FNanchor_400" href="#Footnote_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> but that -his present recollections of the interview, which he has -been so good as to communicate to me, fully confirm -all the Baron’s statements.<a id="FNanchor_401" href="#Footnote_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> The admiral adds that, -although Mezzofanti made no claim to the character -of a practical astronomer, he understood well and was -much interested in the phenomena of the eclipse, and -especially in its predicted annularity at Bologna. “It -was at Mezzofanti’s instance also,” he says, “that -Caturegli undertook to compute in advance the elements -for an almanac for the use of certain distant -convents of the Levant, to aid them in celebrating -Easter contemporaneously.”<a id="FNanchor_402" href="#Footnote_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span></p> - -<p>Startling, therefore, as Von Zach’s account appeared -at the time of its publication, we can no longer -hesitate to receive it literally and in its integrity.</p> - -<p>In reference to one part of it, that which regards -the manner in which Mezzofanti acquired the gipsy -language—viz., “that he learned it from a gipsy -soldier in one of the Hungarian regiments quartered -at Bologna,” it is proper to observe, that he appears -also, towards the end of his life, to have studied this -dialect from books. The catalogue of his library -contains two Gipsy Grammars, one in German, and -one in Italian. The peculiar idiom of this strange language -in which he himself was initiated, is that which -prevails among the gipsies of Bohemia and Hungary, -or rather Transylvania, which is the purest of all -the European gipsy dialects, and differs considerably -from that of the Spanish gipsies. Borrow has given -a short comparative vocabulary<a id="FNanchor_403" href="#Footnote_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> of both, and has<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span> -also printed the Pater Noster in the Spanish gipsy -form.</p> - -<p>The notoriety which this and other similar narratives -procured for the modest professor, speedily rendered -him an object of curiosity to every stranger visiting -Bologna; and as there was no want of critics not -unwilling to question, or at least to scrutinize, the -truth of the marvels recounted by their predecessors, -it may easily be believed that his life became in some -sort a perpetual ordeal. Thus Blume, the author of -the <i>Iter Italicum</i>, who visited Bologna some time -after Von Zach, does not hesitate to take the Baron -to task, and to declare his account very much exaggerated.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Bianconi and Mezzofanti,” says Blume, “are the librarians. -The latter, as is well known, is considered throughout all Europe -as a linguistic prodigy, a second Mithridates; and is said to speak -and write with fluency two-and-thirty dead and living languages. -Willingly as I join in this admiration, especially as his countrymen -usually display little talent for the acquisition of foreign -tongues, I cannot but remark that the account recently given in -the fourth and fifth volumes of Von Zach’s ‘Correspondance Astronomique,’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span> -is very much exaggerated. Readiness in speaking -a language should not be confounded with philological knowledge. -I have heard few Italians speak German as well as -Mezzofanti; but I have also heard him maintain that between -Platt-Deutsch, or the Low German, and the Dutch language, -there was no difference whatever.”<a id="FNanchor_404" href="#Footnote_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>It will be remarked here, however, that these condemnatory -observations of Herr Blume do not regard -Mezzofanti’s attainments as a linguist, but only his -skill as a philologist. On the contrary, to his linguistic -talents Blume bears testimony hardly less unreserved -than that which he criticises in the Baron; -and as regards the rest of Blume’s criticism, the -mistake in philology, (as to the identity of Platt-Deutsch -with Dutch,) which he alleges, and which appears -to be the sole foundation of his depreciatory judgment -of Mezzofanti’s philological knowledge, is certainly -a very minor one, and one which may be very -readily excused in any other than a German; especially -as Adelung (II. 261), distinctly states of -at least one dialect of Platt-Deutsch, that spoken in -Hamburg and Altona, that it contains a large admixture -of Dutch words—so large that a cursory observer, -if we may judge from the specimens which Adelung -gives (II. 268), might very readily consider the two -dialects almost identical. As to another statement -of Blume’s, which imputes to Mezzofanti a want of -courtesy to strangers visiting or studying in the -library, it is contradicted by the unanimous testimony -of all who ever saw him whether at Bologna or at -Rome. He was politeness and good nature itself.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span></p> - -<p>But it must not be supposed that all the visits -which Mezzofanti received were of the character -hitherto described, and were attended with no fruit -beyond a passing display of his wonderful faculty. -Visitors occasionally appeared, whose knowledge he was -enabled to turn to profitable account in extending his -own store of languages. From an Armenian traveller -who came to Bologna in 1818, he received his first -initiation in that difficult and peculiar language, which -he afterwards extended in a visit to the celebrated -convent of San Lazzaro, at Venice. He studied -Georgian with the assistance of a young man from -Teflis, who graduated in medicine at Bologna. And even -from natives of those countries with the general language -of which he was most familiar, he seldom failed to -learn some of the peculiarities of local or provincial dialects -by which the several branches of each are distinguished. -In this way he learned Flemish from some -Belgian students of the university. On the other -hand, select pupils from various parts came to attend -his Greek or Oriental lectures, or to pursue their linguistic -studies privately under his direction. One of -these, the Abate Celestino Cavedoni, now librarian of -the Este Library at Modena, and one of the most -eminent antiquarians of Italy, was his pupil from 1816 -till 1821. With this excellent youth Mezzofanti -formed a cordial friendship; and after Cavedoni’s return -to Modena, they maintained a steady and -affectionate, although not very frequent, correspondance -until Mezzofanti’s final removal from Bologna. -Another was Dr. Liborio Veggetti, the present occupant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span> -of Mezzofanti’s ancient office in the university library, -an office which he owes to the warm recommendation -of his former master. A third was the still more distinguished -scholar, Ippolito Rosellini, the associate and -successor of Champollion in his great work on Egyptian -antiquities. Rosellini, who was a native of Pisa, had -distinguished himself so much during his early studies -in that university, that, on the death of Malanima, -the professor of oriental languages, in 1819, Rosellini, -then only in his nineteenth year, was provisionally -selected to succeed him. It was ordered, nevertheless, -that he should first prepare himself by a regular -course of study; and with this view he was sent, at -the charge of his government, to attend in Bologna -the lectures of the great master of oriental studies. -Mezzofanti entered with all his characteristic kindness -and ardour into the young man’s project. He sent -him with a warm letter of recommendation, May 17, -1823, to his friend De Rossi, at Parma; later in the -same year, by the representation which he made of his -industry and progress, he obtained for him an increase -of the pension which had been assigned for his probationary -studies; and in the work on the Hebrew -Vowel-points,’ which Rosellini published in Bologna,<a id="FNanchor_405" href="#Footnote_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> -he owed much to the kind criticism and advice -of his master. He remained at Bologna till 1824, -when his appointment was made absolute, and -he returned to Pisa to enter upon its duties. The distinguished -after career of Rosellini is well-known.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span> -I shall only add, that through life he entertained the -most grateful recollection of his old master, and that, -on his return from the Egyptian expedition, he made -a special visit to Rome for the purpose of seeing him.<a id="FNanchor_406" href="#Footnote_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a></p> - -<p>The Abate Cavedoni, who, on his return to Modena, -as we have seen, continued to correspond for many -years with Mezzofanti, has kindly communicated -to me those of Mezzofanti’s letters which he has -preserved. They contain some interesting particulars -of a portion of his life regarding which few -other notices have been published.</p> - -<p>In addition to his public lectures in the university -and his occupation as librarian, he still continued to -give private instructions in languages. Mr. Francis -Hare, elder brother of the late Archdeacon Julius Hare, -learned Italian under his direction. The Countess of -Granville, then residing in the family of her aunt, the -Countess Marescalchi, remembers to have received her -first lessons in English from him. A young Franciscan -of the principality of Bosnia prepared himself for his -mission by studying Turkish under his tuition. Many -other foreigners were among his pupils. Indeed, the -ordinary routine of his day, as detailed by one of his -surviving friends in Bologna and confirmed by his own -letters to Cavedoni, may well excite a feeling of wonder -at the extraordinary energy, which enabled him, -from the midst of occupations so continuous and so -varied, to steal time for the purpose of increasing, or -even of maintaining, the stores which he had already<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> -acquired. He rose soon after four o’clock, both in -winter and in summer; and, after his morning prayer -and meditation, celebrated mass—in winter at the -earliest light; after which he took a cup of chocolate -or coffee. At eight o’clock he gave his daily lecture -in the university; thence he passed to the library, -where, as is plain from many circumstances, he -was generally actively engaged in the duties of his -office, although constantly interrupted by the visits of -strangers. As his apartments were in the library -building, his occupations can hardly be said to have -been suspended by his frugal dinner, which, according -to the national usage, was at twelve o’clock, and from -which he returned to the library. The afternoon was -occupied with his private pupils. As his habits of eating -and drinking were temperate in the extreme, his supper, (sometimes -in his own apartments, sometimes at the -house of his sister or of some other friend,) was of the -very simplest kind. He continued his studies to a -late hour; and, even after retiring to bed, he invariably -read for a short time, till the symptoms of -approaching sleep satisfied him that, without fear of -loss of time, he might abandon all further thought of -study.</p> - -<p>Such were his ordinary every day occupations; and, -amply as they may seem to fill up the circle of twenty-four -hours, he contrived, amidst them all, to find -time for many offices of voluntary charity. He was -assiduous in the confessional, and especially in receiving -the confessions of foreigners of every degree. -For the spiritual care of all Catholic foreigners, indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span> -he seems to have been regarded as invested with a particular -commission. In cases of sickness, especially, he -was a constant and most cheerful visitor; and there are -not a few still living, of those that visited Bologna during -these years, who retain a lively and grateful recollection -of the kindly attentions, and the still more consolatory -ministrations, for which they were indebted to -his ready charity.</p> - -<p>Another extra-official occupation which absorbed -a considerable portion of his time, was the examination -of books submitted to him for revision, particularly -of those connected with his favourite studies. It sometimes -happened that he received such commissions -from Rome. “I cannot reckon,” he writes, apologetically, -to his friend the abate Cavedoni, “upon a -single free moment. The library, my professorship, -my private lectures, the revision of books, foreigners, -well, sick, or dying, do not leave me time to breathe. -I am fast losing, nay I have already lost, the habit -of applying myself to study; and when, from time to -time, I am called on to do anything, I find myself -reduced to the necessity of improvising.”</p> - -<p>The most interesting record of this portion of his -life will be the series of his letters to his friend and pupil -Cavedoni, already alluded to. Unfortunately they -are not numerous, and they occur at rather distant -intervals; but they are at least valuable as being -perfectly simple and unstudied, and free, to an extent -very unusual in Italian correspondence, from that -artificial and ceremonious character which so often -destroys in our eyes the charm of the cleverest<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> -foreign correspondence. Cavedoni, during his studies -at Bologna, had lived on terms of the most cordial -intimacy with his professor and with his family. -Mezzofanti’s nephews, especially the young abate -Joseph Mezzofanti, (whom we shall find commemorated -in some of these letters under the pet name -<i>Giuseppino</i>, <i>Joe</i>,) had been his constant companion -and friend.</p> - -<p>The first of these letters was written in reply to -one of the ordinary new-year’s complimentary letters, -which the abate Cavedoni, soon after his return to -Modena, had addressed to his old professor.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, January 18, 1822.</i></p> - -<p>My most esteemed Don Celestino,</p> - -<p>I did not fail, on the first day of the new year, to pray with -all my heart that God may ever bestow abundantly upon you His -best and sweetest graces. May He deign to hear a prayer, which I -shall never cease to offer! I commend myself in turn to your -fervent prayers.</p> - -<p>I am delighted to hear that the abate Baraldi is about to employ -his various learning and his great zeal so worthily in the -cause of our holy religion. I shall be most happy to take a copy -of the “<i>Memorie</i>,” which, as I am informed, are about to appear -under his editorship. May I beg of you to arrange that the -numbers shall reach me as early as possible after publication? -They may be sent through the post; but it will be necessary to -fold the packet in such a way as to let it be seen that it is a -periodical, in order that it may not be charged the full postage. -My great object is to receive the numbers at the earliest moment, -in order that a work which is intended to counteract the irreligious -principles now unhappily so current, may be read as extensively -as possible.</p> - -<p>I shall examine your medal to-morrow, and, should I succeed -in making anything out of it, I will write to you. Let me know -how I shall send it back to you.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span></p> - -<p>Recollect that we are looking forward here to a visit from you -with the utmost anxiety. It was a great surprise and disappointment -to us, not to see you during the late holy festivals. -Do not forget me, and believe me,</p> - -<p class="center">Ever your most affectionate servant,</p> - -<p class="right">D. Joseph Mezzofanti.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The journal referred to in this letter is the now -voluminous periodical, “<i>Memorie di Religione, di -Morale, e di Letteratura</i>,” founded at Modena in -1822, and continued, with one or two short interruptions, -up to the present time. The “Abate Baraldi” was -a learned ecclesiastic, afterwards arch-priest of -Modena.</p> - -<p>Cavedoni, since his return to Modena, had been -chiefly engaged in archæological studies, and especially -in that of numismatics. He often consulted Mezzofanti -on these subjects, to which, without being a -professed antiquarian, the latter had given some attention. -In acknowledgment of this obligation, Cavedoni, -several years afterwards, dedicated to him his Spiecilegio -Numismatico.<a id="FNanchor_407" href="#Footnote_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span></p> - -<p>The following letter throws some light on the time -and the manner in which his attention was first -turned to the Georgian language. The youth to -whom it refers was in Bologna in the year 1820 or -1821.</p> - -<p>Cavedoni had apologised for occupying his time by -his letters.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, April 5, 1823.</i></p> - -<p>My Dear Don Celestino,</p> - -<p>It will always be a most grateful and pleasing distraction -for me in the midst of my endless occupations, to receive even a -line from you. It is true that occasionally I may not be able to -enjoy this gratification without the drawback arising from regret -at not having it in my power to reply to you immediately; but -I trust that you will be able to make allowance for me, and that -such delays on my part will never cause you to suspect that I -have ceased to remember you with special affection.</p> - -<p>Of the two works which you mention, that of Father Giorgi -still maintains the reputation which its author commanded during -life by his prodigious learning. Will you let me know whether -the little work in Georgian that you refer to is printed or manuscript? -You are quite right in supposing that I have not thought -of that language since the departure of the young physician of -Teflis, who took his medical degree in our university. Alas! -what a large proportion of my life is spent in teaching! If I -but did that well, I might be content; but when one does too -much, he does nothing as it ought to be done.</p> - -<p>I had not heard a word of Signor Baraldi’s affliction, for which -I am much concerned. I trust that, when you write again, you -will have better news for me. Pray present my special compliments -to the Librarian.</p> - -<p>Do not forget me; and, in order that I may know you do not, -write often to assure me that it is so. Don Giuseppino sends -you a thousand greetings, and I myself more than a thousand.</p> - -<p class="center">Ever your most devoted servant and friend,</p> - -<p class="right">D. Joseph Mezzofanti.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span></p> - -<p>In this year, Mezzofanti made the acquaintance of -the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire, during one of -her visits to the north of Italy. The success of her -magnificent edition of Horace’s Fifth Satire—his journey -to Brundusium—had suggested to her the idea -of a similar edition of the Eneid. The first volume, -with a series of illustrations, scenical, as well as historical, -(of Troy, Ithaca, Gaeta, Gabii, &c.,) had -appeared in Rome in 1819;<a id="FNanchor_408" href="#Footnote_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a> and the object of the -duchess in this visit, was to procure sketches in the -locality of Mantua, and especially a sketch of Pietole, -the supposed site of the ancient Andes, the place of -the poet’s birth, upon that plain,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">————tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mincius.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>One of Mezzofanti’s letters, addressed to his friend -Pezzana, shews the lengths to which this eccentric -lady carried her zeal for the illustration of this really -magnificent work. Although the second volume had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> -been already published, and many of the copies had -been distributed, she continued to add to the -number of the illustrations.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Her Grace, the duchess of Devonshire,” he writes, July 6th, -1823, “on leaving Bologna, commissioned me to forward to you -the second volume of the Eneid, translated by Caro. In order to -secure its safe and punctual delivery, I begged the good offices -of the Abate Crescini, who had just then arrived; and he at once -undertook it with his usual courtesy. This edition has won the -admiration of all our artists; and the duchess, not content with -its present illustrations, has gone to Mantua, taking with her -another excellent landscape-painter, our fellow-citizen, Signor -Fantuzzi, to make a sketch of Pietole, to be added to the other -plates, which already adorn this splendid work of art.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>In August, 1823, died the venerable Pope Pius -VII. The desire, which, on his return from captivity, -he expressed to secure Mezzofanti’s services in -his own capital, had been repeated subsequently on -more than one occasion. The new Pope, Leo XII., -regarded him with equal favour; but his attachment -to home still remained unchanged; and the Pope -named him, in 1824, a member of the Collegio dei consultori -at Bologna.</p> - -<p>Of his correspondence during this year no portion -has come into my hands; but there is one of his letters -of 1825, (dated April 8th,) which, although it is but -an answer to a commonplace letter written to him -by Cavedoni, with the catalogue of an expected sale -of books, seems worthy to be preserved, at least as -an indication of the direction and progress of his -studies.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“It is always difficult,” he writes, “to fix the fair price of a -class of books which either are not in the market at all, or which -appear but seldom for sale, chiefly because there are but few who -seek for such publications. In my case, it becomes almost -impossible to determine it, as I have no opportunity of seeing the -books, and very little leisure even to examine the catalogue, being -obliged to return it in so short a time.</p> - -<p>“I only venture, therefore, to select a few, which I should be -disposed to take, provided the price of all together shall not exceed -forty Roman crowns. Try to make a bargain for me, or at all -events, endeavour to prevent the books from being either scattered -or buried in some inaccessible corner.</p> - -<p>“I should wish then to take the following:—</p> - -<p>The ‘nine MSS., either extracted from printed books, or of -uncertain value.’</p> - -<p>The ‘Grammatica Japonica,’ Romæ No. 22, in the Catalogue.</p> - -<p>The ‘Grammatica Marasta,’<a id="FNanchor_409" href="#Footnote_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a> number 32.</p> - -<p>The ‘Grammatica Linguæ Amharicæ,’<a id="FNanchor_410" href="#Footnote_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a> number 43.</p> - -<p>The ‘Osservazioni sulla Lingua albanese,’ number 44.</p> - -<p>The ‘Grammatica Damulica,’<a id="FNanchor_411" href="#Footnote_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a> number 46.</p> - -<p>Benjamin Schulz’s, ‘Grammatica Hindostanica,’ number 50.</p> - -<p>‘Chilidugu; sive ses Chilenses,’<a id="FNanchor_412" href="#Footnote_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> number 67.</p> - -<p>And the ‘Catecismo en Lengua Española y Moxa,’<a id="FNanchor_413" href="#Footnote_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a> No 71.</p> - -<p>I shall await your reply.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Only one of these works, the “Observations on the -Albanese Language,” (by Francis Maria da Lecce,)<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span> -appears in the catalogue of Mezzofanti’s Library. -Benjamin Schulz’s Tamul Bible and New Testament, -are both in that catalogue, but not his Hindostani -Grammar. Probably the price of the books exceeded -the very modest limit which Mezzofanti’s humble -means compelled him to fix.</p> - -<p>In the August of 1825, he had a visit from the -veteran philologist and <i>literateur</i>, Frederic Jacobs, of -Gotha. The report of Jacobs may be considered of -special importance, as he had been prepared, by the -doubts expressed as to the credibility of Baron Von -Zach’s report, to scrutinize with some jealousy the real -extent of the attainments thus glowingly described. -It is important, therefore, to note that after quoting -all the most material portions of Von Zach’s narrative, -he fully confirms it from his own observations—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I was most kindly received by him,” says Dr. Jacobs: “we -spoke in German for above an hour, so that I had full opportunity -for observing the facility with which he spoke; his conversation -was animated, his vocabulary select and appropriate, his pronunciation -by no means foreign, and I could detect nothing but here -and there a little of the North German accent. He was not unacquainted -with German literature, spoke among other things of -Voss’s services in the theory of metre, and made some observations -on the imitation of the metrical system of the ancients. -His opinions were precise and expressed without dogmatism. This -fault, so common among persons of talent, appears quite foreign -to him, and there is not a trace of charlatanism about him.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>As a somewhat different opinion has been expressed -by others, the reader will observe the testimony -borne by Jacobs, not only to Mezzofanti’s scholarship -and philological attainments in a department but -little cultivated, but also to the “selectness and appropriateness”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263"></a>[263]</span> -of his German vocabulary, the “facility -with which he spoke,” and the general purity and -correctness of his conversational style.</p> - -<p>He proceeds to describe another peculiarity of -Mezzofanti’s extraordinary faculty which is equally -deserving of notice, but which no other visitor whom -we have hitherto seen, has brought out so strongly.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Not less remarkable are the ease and readiness with which -he passes in conversation from one language to another, from the -north to the south, from the east to the west, and the dexterity -with which he speaks several of the most difficult together, without -the least seeming effort; and whereas, in cognate languages, -the slightest difference creates confusion;—so that, for instance -the German in Holland or the Dutchman in Germany, often mixes -the sister and mother tongues so as to become unintelligible;—Mezzofanti -ever draws the line most sharply, and his path in each -realm of languages is uniformly firm and secure.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>We may also add Professor Jacobs’ description of -the personal appearance of the great linguist at this -period of his life.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Mezzofanti,” he says, “is of the middle size, or rather -below it; he is thin and pale, and his whole appearance indicates -delicacy. He appears to be between fifty and sixty years old -[he was really, in 1825, fifty-one]; his movements are easy and -unembarrassed; his whole bearing is that of a man who has mixed -much in society. He is active and zealous in the discharge -of his duties, and never fails to celebrate mass every day.”<a id="FNanchor_414" href="#Footnote_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>I have thought it necessary to draw the reader’s -attention to these points, in reference to Mezzofanti’s -German, in order that he may compare them with -the observations of Dr. Tholuck, Chevalier Bunsen, -Guido Görres, and other distinguished Germans, who -visited him at a later period.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264"></a>[264]</span></p> - -<p>All his later letters to the Abate Cavedoni, which -are filled with apologies for his tardiness as a correspondent, -tell the same story of ceaseless occupation.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“A Franciscan friar of the Bosnian province,” he writes, -November 23rd, 1825, “who has been learning Turkish with me -for the purposes of his mission in Bosnia, being on his way -to Modena, has called to inquire whether I have any occasion -to write to that city. The remorse which I feel at not having -written to you for so long a time, makes it impossible for me to -give a denial; and I write this letter, into which I wish I could -crowd all the expressions of gratitude which I owe to you for your -constant and faithful remembrance of one, who, although he certainly -never forgets you, yet rarely gives you, at least in writing, -the smallest evidence of his remembrance.</p> - -<p>The truth is that I should only be too happy to do so, and that -it would seem to me but a renewal of the pleasant literary discussions -which we used to hold with one another here. But unfortunately, -I am too much occupied to indulge myself with this relaxation. -I say this, however, only to excuse myself; for I -assure you that I look eagerly for letters from you, and that it is -a great comfort to me to receive one.</p> - -<p>As regards those words terminating in <i>ite</i> which are now commonly -used by medical writers, although their formation is not -grammatically exact, and although they do not precisely correspond -with those which were employed by the ancients, yet as they have -now obtained general currency, it would be hyper-critical and useless -to seek to reform them. You may satisfy grammarians by a brief -annotation to show that you do not overlook what is due to their -art—I mean of course Greek grammarians; for I suppose our own -grammarians will perhaps prefer the termination which has been -sanctioned by use, and which may possibly appear to them less -disagreeable. You see that I am but repeating your own opinion, -and if I did not write sooner to you on the subject, it was because -my own judgment fully agreed with what you had expressed in -your letter.</p> - -<p>I congratulate you on the success of your brother’s studies. I -have been much gratified by the learning, the industry, and the -zeal for religion, which he has displayed. Offer him my best -thanks.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265"></a>[265]</span></p> - -<p>Remember me in your prayers: write to me, and believe me -unchangingly yours.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The same regrets are still more strikingly expressed -in the following letter.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I have been wishing, for several days past, to write and thank -you heartily for your kindness towards me, but it is only this -day that I have been able to steal a moment for the purpose. -Be assured that I do not forget how patiently you bore with me, -while, in the midst of the thousand distractions to which I was -liable, we were reading together the Greek and Oriental languages. -If I recall to your recollection the manner of my life at -that time, and the ever recurring interruptions of my studies, it -is only for the purpose of letting you see that, as the same state -of things still continues, or rather has been changed for the worse, -I have not time to show my gratitude for your constant remembrance -of me. Still I thank you from my heart for it.</p> - -<p>I have not been able to read much of your Tasso, but I have -observed some readings which appear to me very happy. I told -Count Valdrighi, that I intended to write to you about the volume -which Monsignor Mai has just published, to request that you, -or some others of your friends in Modena, would take copies of -it, as I have some to dispose of. I have since learned that you -are already supplied. I beg, nevertheless, that you will take -some public occasion to recommend it. I would do so willingly -myself, but I cannot find a single free moment. The library, my -professorship, my private lectures, the examination of books, the -visits of strangers, the attendance on sick or dying foreigners, do -not leave me time to breathe. In all this I possess one singular -advantage—the excellent health with which I am blessed. But -on the other hand, I am losing, or indeed I have already lost, my -habit of application; and now, if I am called from time to time to -do anything, I find myself reduced to the necessity of improvising.</p> - -<p>Forgive me, my dear Don Celestino, for entering thus minutely -into my own affairs. Set it down to the account of our -friendship, in the name of which I beg of you to remember me -in your prayers. Continue to write to me as of old; for, in the -midst of my heaviest occupations, I receive your letters with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266"></a>[266]</span> -greatest pleasure, and find a real enjoyment in them, and in the -reminiscences which they bring with them of the happiness that -I formerly enjoyed in your dear society.</p> - -<p>My sister and my nephews present their most cordial greetings.</p> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, March, 27, 1826.</i>”</p> - -</div> - -<p>It is about this time that we may date the commencement -of that intimacy between Mezzofanti and -Cardinal Cappellari, afterwards Pope Gregory XVI., -which eventually led to Mezzofanti’s removal from -Bologna to Rome. Cappellari, a distinguished monk -of the Camaldolese order, was named to the cardinalate -early in 1826; and soon afterwards was -placed at the head of the congregation of the Propaganda. -Being himself an orientalist of considerable -eminence, he had long admired the wonderful gifts of -Mezzofanti, and a circumstance occurred soon after his -nomination as prefect of the Propaganda, which led to -a correspondence between them, in reference to an -oriental liturgical manuscript on which the opinion -of the great linguist was desired. Cardinal Cappellari -forwarded the MS. to Mezzofanti, who in a short -time returned it, not merely with an explanation, -but with a complete Latin translation. The Cardinal -was so grateful for this service, that he wrote to -thank the translator, accompanying his letter with a -draft for a hundred doubloons. Mezzofanti, with a -disinterestedness which his notoriously straitened -means made still more honourable, at once wrote to -return the draft, with a request that it should be -applied to the purposes of the missions of the Propaganda.<a id="FNanchor_415" href="#Footnote_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267"></a>[267]</span></p> - -<p>This appeal from Cardinal Cappellari was not a -solitary one. Mezzofanti was not unfrequently consulted -in the same way, sometimes on critical or -bibliographical questions, sometimes as to the character -or contents of a book or MS. in some unknown -language. One of his letters to the abate Cavedoni -is a long account of an early Latin version of two of -St. Gregory Nazianzen’s minor spiritual poems, the -“Tetrasticha” and the “Monosticha.” As this letter -(although not without interest as being the only -specimen of his critical writings which I have been -able to obtain) would have little attraction for the -general reader, and throws but little light upon the -narrative, it is unnecessary to translate it.<a id="FNanchor_416" href="#Footnote_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a> There is -another letter, however, of nearly the same period, -addressed to his friend count Valdrighi of Modena, -on the subject of a MS. in the Birman language submitted -by the count for his examination, which will -be read with more curiosity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268"></a>[268]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p><i>To Count Mario Valdrighi.</i></p> - -<p>“I have to reproach myself for not being more prompt in my -acknowledgement of your polite letter; or rather I regret the resolution -which I formed of delaying my answer in the hope of -being able to make it more satisfactory; since thus it has turned -out, that while I was only waiting in the hope of being able to -reply with greater accuracy, I have incurred the suspicion of -discourtesy, by delaying to send you the little information regarding -your oriental MS. which I possessed at the time, and -which I regret to say is all that even still I am possessed of.</p> - -<p>Although your MS. is the first in these characters that I have -ever seen, yet I recognized it at once as a MS. written, or, I -should more correctly say, <i>graven</i>, in Burmese, the native language -of the kingdom of Ava, and the language also which is -used by all persons of cultivation in the dependent provinces of -that kingdom. I was enabled to recognize the form of the characters -from having once seen the alphabet, which was printed -by the Propaganda, first in 1776, and again in 1787.<a id="FNanchor_417" href="#Footnote_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a></p> - -<p>As my knowledge in reference to the language when I received -your letter, did not extend any farther, I was unable to give you -any other information regarding your MS. except that it is -composed of that species of palm leaves which they use in that -country, for the purpose of inscribing or engraving their written -characters thereon. The tree, which does not differ much in -appearance from the other species of palm, is said to live for a -hundred years, and then to die as soon as it has produced its -fruit; but perhaps it may be said to live on by preserving on its -leaves the writings which they wish to transmit to posterity. It -is called in Burmese (or Birmese) by the name of <i>Ole</i>.</p> - -<p>You will ask what is the character of their writings. The -people are said to be ignorant in the extreme, and even the class -called <i>Talapuini</i>, who live together in community in a sort of -Pythagorean college, possess but very little learning. Their -studies are confined to two books, written in a peculiar character,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269"></a>[269]</span> -one entitled <i>Kammua</i>, the other <i>Padinot</i>.<a id="FNanchor_418" href="#Footnote_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a> The Barnabite -Fathers also, who founded several churches in Ava, and preached -the gospel with incredible zeal all over those vast regions, have -written in the native language, several useful books calculated to -maintain and increase the fruit of their apostolic labours. The -most remarkable of them was Mgr. Peristo, who wrote and spoke the -language with great perfection, and whose life has been written -by the late distinguished Father Michael Angelo Griffini.</p> - -<p>I was about to write all this to you as soon as I first received -your MS., but I was anxious to be able to tell you something -more; and with this view, I waited for a long time in the hope -of obtaining from Paris, Carey’s Birmese Grammar, published -at Serampore in 1814, and some other books besides; as such -books must necessarily be in existence, now that the English have -added to their Indian possessions a large tract of the Birmese -Empire. But unfortunately, these books either are not to be -had at Paris, or have not been carefully sought for.</p> - -<p>Accordingly, after all these months of delay, I return you your -Birmese MS. written on the leaves of the Ole palm. It has -most probably found its way to Italy through some missionary, -and perhaps was written by a missionary. This, however, will -likely be discoverable from the facts which are known as to the -place whence it came.</p> - -<p>The information which I am able to give is, you see, very little -compared with what you might have expected, and bears a still -smaller proportion to my desire to oblige you. I should have -wished to translate it all for you, had it been in my power, if it -were only as a means of expressing my gratitude and my homage -to one from whom I receive so many kindnesses, and to whom I -am indebted for so many charming books, either composed or illustrated -by himself. For all these favours it only remains for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270"></a>[270]</span> -me to offer you my most unbounded thanks. I trust that, if you -should chance to honour me again with any commission, I shall -be able to execute it more successfully, or at all events more satisfactorily. -I will at least promise not to delay as I have now done, -in the hope of obtaining more information; but, relying that your -kindness will lead you to accept what little explanation I shall be -able to afford from myself, I will at least endeavour to show my -anxious wish to oblige by the promptness of my reply.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Neither Carey’s Birman Grammar, nor any other -modern book on the subject, appears in the catalogue -of Mezzofanti’s library. It comprises, however, a few -Birman books, amongst which are the two alphabets -referred to in the above letter, a translation of Bellarmine’s -“Doctrina Christiana,” and an “Explanation of -the Catechism for the use of the Birmese.” These -books (all printed at the Propaganda press) appear -to have been procured after his removal to Rome, -where by private study and by intercourse with a -few Birmese students in the Propaganda, he acquired -the language, as we shall see, sufficiently for the purposes -of conversation.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271"></a>[271]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1828-1830.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>In the year 1828, the Crown Prince of Prussia, -(now King Frederic William,) while passing through -Bologna, on his way to Rome, sought an interview -with Mezzofanti. In common with all other visitors, -he was struck with wonder at the marvellous variety -and accuracy of his knowledge of languages. On his -arrival at Rome, he spoke admiringly of this interview -to Dr. Tholuck, the present distinguished professor -of Theology at Halle, (at that time chaplain of -the Prussian Embassy in Rome,) who has kindly -communicated the particulars to me. “The prince -urged me,” says Dr. Tholuck, in an exceedingly interesting -letter which shall be inserted later, “not to -leave Italy without having seen him. ‘He is truly a -miracle,’ exclaimed the prince; ‘he spoke German -with me, like a German; with my Privy-Councillor -Ancillon, he spoke the purest French; with Bunsen, -English; with General Gröben, Swedish.’ ‘And what<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272"></a>[272]</span> -is still more wonderful,’ subjoined M. Bunsen, then -minister resident in Rome, ‘all these languages he -has learnt by books alone, without any teacher.’” -This opinion of M. Bunsen’s, Dr. Tholuck afterwards -ascertained to be a mistake, or at least an exaggeration.</p> - -<p>It was doubtless to the lessons of his early master, -Father Thiulen, that he owed the knowledge of -Swedish which enabled him to converse with General -Gröben. A still more distinct evidence of his -familiarity with it occurred on occasion of the visit -of the Crown Prince (now King) Oscar of Sweden -to Bologna. M. Braunerhjelm, now Hof-Stallmastäre -at Stockholm, who was present at the prince’s interview -with Mezzofanti, assured Mr. Wackerbarth, who -was good enough to make the inquiry for me last year, -that “the abate spoke the language quite perfectly.” -According to another account which I have received, -the prince, having suddenly changed the conversation -into a dialect peculiar to one of the provinces -of Sweden, Mezzofanti was obliged to confess his inability -to understand him. What was his amazement, -in a subsequent interview, to hear Mezzofanti -address him in this very dialect!</p> - -<p>“From whom, in the name of all that is wonderful, -have you learnt it?” exclaimed the prince.</p> - -<p>“From your Royal Highness,” replied Mezzofanti. -“Your conversation yesterday supplied me with a -key to all that is peculiar in its forms, and I am merely -translating the common words into this form.”</p> - -<p>The Countess of Blessington, in the third volume<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273"></a>[273]</span> -of her “Idler in Italy,” has given an account of her -intercourse with Mezzofanti during this year. She -adds but little to the facts already known as to -Mezzofanti’s linguistic attainments; but it may not -be uninteresting to contrast with the ponderous and -matter of fact sketches of the professional scholars whom -we have hitherto been considering, the lighter, but in -many respects more striking portraiture of a lady -visitor, less capable of estimating the solidity of his learning, -but more alive to the minor peculiarities of his -manner, to the more delicate shades of his character -and disposition, and to the thousand minuter specialities, -which, after all, go to form our idea of the man.</p> - -<p>Lady Blessington had been present at the solemn -mass in the church of St. Petronius at Bologna on -the morning of the Festival of the Assumption. An -adventure which befel her at the close of the ceremony -led to her first meeting with the great linguist, -which she thus pleasantly describes.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“While viewing the procession beneath the arcades, I was -inadvertently separated from my party, and found myself hurried -along by the crowd, hemmed in at all sides by a moving mass -of strangers who seemed to eye me with much curiosity. To disentangle -myself from the multitude would have been a difficult, -if not an impossible task; and I confess I experienced a certain -degree of trepidation, inseparable from a woman’s feelings, at -finding myself alone in the midst of a vast throng not one face -of which I had ever previously seen. Great then was my satisfaction -at hearing the simple remark of ‘We have had a very -fine day for the fête,’ uttered in English, and with as good a -pronunciation as possible, by a person having the air and dress -of a clergyman, to another who answered: ‘Yes, nothing could -be more propitious than the weather.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274"></a>[274]</span></p> - -<p>Though it is always embarrassing to address a stranger, the -sound of my own language, and the position in which I was placed, -gave me courage to touch the arm of the first speaker, and to -state, that being separated from my party, I must request the -protection of my countryman. He turned round, saluted me -graciously, said that, though not a countryman, he would gladly -assist me to rejoin my party, and immediately placed me between -him and his companion.</p> - -<p>‘You speak English perfectly, yet are not an Englishman!’ -said I. ‘Then you can be no other than professor Mezzofanti?’</p> - -<p>Both he and his companion smiled, and he answered; ‘My -name <i>is</i> Mezzofanti.’</p> - -<p>I had a letter of introduction from a mutual friend, and, intending -to leave it for him in the course of the day, I had put it -into my reticule, whence I immediately drew it and gave it to him. -He knew the hand-writing at a single glance, and, with great -good breeding, put it unopened into his pocket, saying something -too flattering for me to repeat, in which the remark, that a good -countenance was the best recommendation, was neatly turned. -He presented his companion to me, who happened to be the Abbé -Scandalaria, then staying on a visit to him, and who speaks English -remarkably well.</p> - -<p>My party were not a little surprised to see me rejoin them, accompanied -by and in conversation with two strangers. When I -presented them to my new acquaintances, they were much amused -at the recital of my unceremonious encounter and self-introduction -to Mezzofanti, who not only devoted a considerable portion of -the day to us, but promised to spend the evening at our hotel, -and invited us to breakfast with him to-morrow.</p> - -<p>The countenance of the wonderful linguist is full of intelligence, -his manner well-bred, unaffected and highly agreeable. His -facility and felicity in speaking French, German, and English, is -most extraordinary, and I am told it is not less so in various -other languages. He is a younger man than I expected to find -him, and, with the vast erudition he has acquired, is totally exempt -from pretension or pedantry.”<a id="FNanchor_419" href="#Footnote_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275"></a>[275]</span></p> - -<p>An adventure with Mezzofanti, quite similar to -Lady Blessington’s, befel a party of Irish ecclesiastical -students on their way to Rome in the very same -year. They arrived at Bologna late in the afternoon, -and, as they purposed proceeding on their journey -early on the following morning, they were unwilling -to lose the opportunity of seeing and conversing -with the celebrated professor. Accordingly they repaired -to the university library; but, as might be expected -at so late an hour, they found the library -closed and the galleries silent and deserted. After -wandering about for a considerable time, in search of -some one to whom to address an inquiry, they at last -saw an abate of very humble and unpretending appearance -approach. The spokesman of the party -begged of him, in the best Latin he could summon up -at the moment, to point out the way to the library.</p> - -<p>“Do you wish to see the library?” asked the abate -without a moment’s pause, in English, and with an -excellent accent.</p> - -<p>The student was thunderstruck. “By Jove, boys,” -he exclaimed turning to his companions, “this is -Mezzofanti himself!”</p> - -<p>It <i>was</i> Mezzofanti; and, on learning that they -were Irish, he addressed them a few words in their -native language, to which they were obliged to confess -their inability to reply. One of the number, -however, having learned the language from books, -Mezzofanti entered into a conversation with him on -its supposed analogies with Welsh.</p> - -<p>Of this party, five in number, four are now no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276"></a>[276]</span> -more. The sole survivor, Reverend Philip Meyler of -Wexford, still retains a lively recollection not only -of the fluency and precision of Mezzofanti’s English, -but of the friendly warmth with which he received -them, of the interest which he manifested in the object -of their journey, and of the cordiality of the “<i>Iter -bonum faustumque!</i>” with which he took his leave.</p> - -<p>The clergyman alluded to by Lady Blessington, as -the “Abbé Scandalaria,” was, in reality, Padre -Scandellari,<a id="FNanchor_420" href="#Footnote_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> a learned priest of the congregation of -the Scuole Pie, and one of Mezzofanti’s especial friends. -I was assured by the late Lady Bellew, who knew -Padre Scandellari at this period, that he spoke English -quite as well as Mezzofanti. Her ladyship, (at -that time Mademoiselle de Mendoza y Rios) was -presented to Mezzofanti by this father, a few weeks -after the visit of Lady Blessington. She was accompanied -by the late Bishop Gradwell, ex-rector of the -English College at Rome, and by her governess, Madame -de Chaussegros,<a id="FNanchor_421" href="#Footnote_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a> a native of Marseilles. Mezzofanti -conversed fluently with Dr. Gradwell in English, and -with Mdlle. de Mendoza, who was a linguist of no -common attainments, in English, French, and Spanish; -and when he learned that her companion was a -Marseillaise, he at once addressed her in the Provençal -dialect, which, as the delighted Marseillaise -declared, he spoke almost with the grace and propriety -of a native of Provence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277"></a>[277]</span></p> - -<p>It will be remembered that the Crown Prince of -Prussia, on his arrival at Rome, counselled Dr. Tholuck -not to return to Germany, without visiting the -Bolognese prodigy. Having heard of this interview, -which took place while Dr. Tholuck was returning to -Germany, in 1829, I was naturally anxious to learn -what was the impression made upon this distinguished -orientalist, by a visit which may be said to have -been undertaken with the professed design of testing -by a critical examination the reality of the accomplishment -of which fame had spoken so unreservedly. -Dr. Tholuck, with a courtesy which I gratefully -acknowledge, at once forwarded to me a most interesting -account of his interview, a portion of which -has been already inserted. Dr. Tholuck is known as one -of the most eminent linguists of modern Germany. -From the clear and idiomatic English of his letter, -the reader may infer what are his capabilities, as a -critical judge of the same faculty in another. After -mentioning M. Bunsen’s statement, that Mezzofanti -had learned his languages entirely from books, Dr. -Tholuck continues:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“This seemed the more incredible to me, having just made the -experience as to Italian, how impossible it is to acquire the niceties -of conversational language only from books. On my return -from Rome, having arrived at Bologna, I considered it my first -duty to call on that eminent linguist, accompanied by a young -Dane who was conversant also with the Frisian language, spoken -only by a small remnant of that old nation in Sleswic or Friesland. -Mezzofanti having commenced the conversation in German, I -continued it a quarter of an hour in my native language. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278"></a>[278]</span> -spoke it fluently, but not without some slighter mistakes, of which, -in that space of time, I noticed as many as four, which I took -notes of immediately after; nor was the accent a pure German -accent, but that of Poles and Bohemians when they speak German, -which is to be accounted for from his having acquired that -language from individuals of that nation, from Austrian soldiers. -Upon this I suddenly turned my conversation into Arabic, having -obtained an easy practice in this language by long intercourse -with a family in which it was spoken. Mezzofanti made his reply -in Arabic without any hesitation, quite correctly, but very slowly, -composing one word with the other, from want of practice. I -then turned upon Dutch, which he did not know then, but replied -in Flemish, a kindred dialect. English and Spanish he spoke -with the greatest fluency, but when addressed in Danish he replied -in Swedish. The Frisian he had not yet heard of. When -requested to write a line for me, he retired in his study, and, as -we had been talking together on the Persian, which at that time -had been my chief study, and which he was able to converse in, -though very slowly, and composing only words, as was my own -case likewise, he wrote for me a fine Persian distich of his own -composition, though only after long meditation in his study. In -the mean while he permitted me to examine his library. Turning -up a Cornish (of the dialect of Cornwall) Grammar, I found in -it some sheets containing a little vocabulary and grammatical -paradigms, and he told me that his way of learning new languages -was no other but that of our school-boys, by writing out paradigms -and words, and committing to memory. As to the statement of -M. Bunsen, mentioned before, it was not confirmed by Mezzofanti’s -communication: he confessed to have acquired the conversational -language chiefly from foreigners in the hospitals, in part -from missionaries. The number he then professed to know <i>well</i> -was upwards of twenty; those which he knew imperfectly, almost -the same number. Of the poetical productions of several nations -he spoke as a man of taste, but what we call the philosophy of -language he did not seem yet to have entered upon.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Dr. Tholuck, it will be seen, did not suffer himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279"></a>[279]</span> -to be carried away by the enthusiasm of those who -had gone before him. He had eyes for faults as -well as for excellencies. Nevertheless, the reader -will probably agree with me in thinking the undisguised -admiration which pervades his calm and circumstantial -statement, even with the drawbacks which -it contains, a more solid tribute to the fame of -Mezzofanti than the declamatory eulogies of a crowd -of uninquiring enthusiasts. There is an irresistible -guarantee for his trustworthiness as a reporter upon -Mezzofanti’s German, in the fact that he did not fail -to take “a note of the four minor mistakes,” into which -Mezzofanti fell in the course of their conversation;<a id="FNanchor_422" href="#Footnote_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a> -and one cannot hesitate to receive without suspicion -what he tells of his “speaking Arabic and Persian -without any hesitation, and quite correctly,” when -we find him carefully distinguish between these and -the other languages on which he tried him, and note -that in these he proceeded “very slowly, composing one -word with another for want of practice.” It is proper, -however, to add that the opportunity of practice which -he afterwards enjoyed at Rome, entirely removed this -difficulty: and the fluency and ease with which Mezzofanti -there spoke these most difficult languages, is the -best confirmation of Dr. Tholuck’s sagacity in ascribing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280"></a>[280]</span> -the hesitation which was observable at the time of his -visit to want of practice alone.</p> - -<p>Dr. Tholuck’s letter is specially important, also, as -establishing the fact that Mezzofanti’s acquisitions were -by no means so easy, or so much the result of a species -of instinctive intuition as has been commonly supposed. -Many of the circumstances which Dr. Tholuck notes, -indicate labour; all point plainly to successive stages -of advancement, to various degrees of perfection, in -a word, to all the ordinary accompaniments of progress. -The little vocabulary and grammatical paradigms of -the Cornish language, an extinct and almost forgotten -dialect,<a id="FNanchor_423" href="#Footnote_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a> which even our English philologists have -come to disregard, tell of themselves the character of the -man. Of course the main attraction of the Cornish dialect -for him, was as one of the representatives of the -old British family; but it cannot be doubted that he -took a pleasure in the systematic pursuit of the structure -of a language for the mere sake of the mental -exercise which it involved. I am assured by the -Cavalier Minarelli that the deceased Cardinal’s books -and papers<a id="FNanchor_424" href="#Footnote_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a> contain many such grammatical and -phraseological skeletons, even in languages which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281"></a>[281]</span> -might be supposed to have less interest than that in -the study of which Dr. Tholuck found him engaged.<a id="FNanchor_425" href="#Footnote_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a></p> - -<p>In reply to further inquiries which I addressed to -him, Dr. Tholuck added:</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Among the twenty languages which he then professed to know -accurately, he pointed out specially the English and the -Albanese; among these he professed to know imperfectly, -was also the Quichua, or old Peruvian, which he learned from -some of the American missionaries. He mentioned that he was -then engaged in learning the Bimbarra language, studying it from -a catechism translated by a French missionary; an instance which -shows that his <i>knowing</i> a language was in <i>some</i> instances nothing -more than having got a smattering of it, as the Americans -say.<a id="FNanchor_426" href="#Footnote_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282"></a>[282]</span></p> - -<p>As to the Persian distich, which it took him about half an hour -to compose, it was an imitation of the distichs in Sadi’s <i>Gulistan</i>,<a id="FNanchor_427" href="#Footnote_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a> -and contained, as is the case with these distichs, some elegant -ἐνθύμησεις.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Whether, at any subsequent time, he acquired -the Frisian dialect, of which “he had not yet heard” -when Dr. Tholuck visited him, I am unable to pronounce -from any positive information. But I find in -his catalogue<a id="FNanchor_428" href="#Footnote_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> several volumes in this language (to -which it is highly probable that this interview called -his attention;) not merely elementary books, such as -Rasck’s <i>Friesche Spraakleer</i>, but historical works, as for -instance, Wissers’ History, and even such light literature -as Japiek’s Collection of Frisian Poetry.<a id="FNanchor_429" href="#Footnote_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a> From -his known habits I can hardly doubt that, once having -acquired these books, he must at least have made -some progress towards mastering their contents.</p> - -<p>The abate Ubaldo Fabiani, a young Modenese priest -of much promise, who, after completing his studies, -had been appointed lecturer in sacred Scripture and -Hebrew in his native university, came to Bologna -in 1829, with letters from the abate Cavedoni to -Mezzofanti, under whom he proposed to perfect -himself in Hebrew and other Oriental languages.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283"></a>[283]</span> -Mezzofanti received him with the utmost -cordiality; and the great ability and industry which he -exhibited, as well as his exceeding amiableness and unaffected -piety, completely won the heart of his master. -On his return to Modena, after a residence of a few -months, Mezzofanti wrote to his friend Cavedoni.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, 17 October, 1829.</i></p> - -<p>“Don Ubaldo Fabiani is just about to return to Modena, after -a sojourn of three months here, the entire of which he has passed -in the midst of books. It would be impossible for me to describe -to you the assiduity, avidity, and perseverance, with which I have -seen him apply to his studies; but I can safely say that the fruit -which he has derived from them has even exceeded the labour, -as he unites with unwearied diligence a ready wit and a peculiar -aptitude for this branch of learning. The principal object of his -attention has been the sacred Hebrew text; but he has also applied -himself to Chaldee, and in the end to the Rabbinical -Hebrew—in all cases with most rapid progress. Had his time not -been so limited, he had intended to devote himself also to Arabic—a -language which has of late become so necessary an appliance -of the polemics of sacred Scripture. But I have every confidence -that he will do this also, when he shall return another year to Bologna; -and I shall be more than willing to accompany him in -this study also.</p> - -<p>I am much indebted to you for having given me an opportunity -of forming the acquaintance of so worthy an ecclesiastic. I -have to thank you also for your learned publications, which you -were kind enough to send me, and which, in the midst of all my -varied occupations, are a source of real pleasure to me. Forgive -my irregularity and tardiness as a correspondent; or rather -do you return good for evil, by writing to me the more frequently. -You will thus do what is most grateful to your devoted friend.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Fabiani had hardly reached Modena when he was -seized with fever—the terrible <i>perniciosa</i> of the Italian -summer and autumn—and was carried off after<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284"></a>[284]</span> -an illness of a few days, at the early age of twenty-four. -As soon as the melancholy news reached Bologna, -Mezzofanti wrote once more to his friend -Cavedoni.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Bologna, November 12, 1829.</i></p> - -<p>“Death has snatched Don Ubaldo from us! Alas, how much -have we lost in him!—how miserably have we seen all the hopes -which we placed in him, cut off in a single moment! What -might we not have expected from a young ecclesiastic, so entirely -devoted to piety and to letters!</p> - -<p>As for himself, his only aspirations were for heaven. His studies -had no other end or aim, save God: and God has been -pleased to take him to Himself, crowning with an early reward -a virtue which, even in the first flower of years, had attained to -its full maturity. Ah, let us hope that our dear Don Ubaldo, -now close to the Divine Fountain, is there admitted to the -hidden source of the divine oracles, to the study of which he addressed -himself here with such indefatigable application. Now -he will recall to memory, the affectionate care bestowed upon -him here by his parents, by his dear Don Celestino, and even -by his last master—last in merit as well as in time—and will feel -the force of the words which I often repeated to him, never with -more tenderness than at our last parting—‘Ah, Don Ubaldo, -give thyself entirely to the Lord!’ He feels now, I confidently -trust, what a thing it is to ‘belong entirely to the Lord.’</p> - -<p>Ah, my dear Don Celestino, I should not be acting worthily, -if, on such an event, I gave room for a single moment to earthly -thoughts. Our friend has flown to heaven:—let our hearts also -turn thither, where we hope to meet him in everlasting joy. Assist -me by your prayers to attain this end. When you see our -deceased friend’s parents, comfort them with the true and blessed -consolations which our holy religion bestows; and let us when, in -the Adorable Sacrifice, we offer prayers for those who are in tribulation, -never fail to pray for each other, and continually strive to -disentangle ourselves more and more from the vanity of the world.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285"></a>[285]</span></p> - -<p>The premature death of this excellent young clergyman -was felt at Modena as a real calamity. His -friend, the abate Cavedoni, published these simple -but touching letters of Mezzofanti in the <i>Memorie</i><a id="FNanchor_430" href="#Footnote_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a> -of Modena, as the best testimony which could be -offered to the rare merit of the deceased; but, -although already known in Italy, they are well worthy -of being preserved, not merely as a tribute to -the memory of the youth whose death they record, -but as representing most truthfully the piety, the -sensibility, the fervour, and above all, the amiable -and affectionate disposition, of the writer himself.</p> - -<p>Soon after the date of these letters was founded at -Bologna a literary Academy, which has some interest -in connexion with the history of Mezzofanti. -Like many of the older learned societies of Italy,<a id="FNanchor_431" href="#Footnote_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a> it -took to itself a somewhat fanciful designation, -although one which falls far short in oddity of those -of many among its predecessors;—as the <i>Oziosi</i>, or the -<i>Inquieti</i>, of Bologna, the <i>Insensati</i> of Perugia, the -<i>Assorditi</i> of Urbino, or (strangest of all), the <i>Umidi</i><a id="FNanchor_432" href="#Footnote_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a> -of Florence, who carried the fancy so far as to -designate themselves by the names of fish and water-fowls. -Mezzofanti and his fellow Academicians contented -themselves with the less startling, though somewhat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286"></a>[286]</span> -affected, title of <i>Filopieri</i>, “Lovers of the Muses.” -Their Society received the formal approval of the -Congregation of Studies, in the beginning of 1830, -and commenced to hold its meetings in the same -year. But, in connexion with the life of Mezzofanti, -it is chiefly memorable for a curious volume of verses, -addressed to him by the members, on the occasion -of his elevation to the Cardinalate.<a id="FNanchor_433" href="#Footnote_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287"></a>[287]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1831.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Hitherto the Abate Mezzofanti has appeared chiefly, -if not exclusively, as a linguist; and the estimate of -his attainments which has long been current, assumes -him to have cultivated that single accomplishment to -the exclusion of all other branches of study. The -report, however, of a visitor, who saw him about the -time at which we have now arrived, will be found to -present him in a new character.</p> - -<p>In introducing this notice of him, a brief preliminary -explanation will be necessary—perhaps, indeed, this -explanation is indispensable even in itself; for, -although the political history of the period does not -properly fall within the scope of this biography, -yet, as the most important event in the life of -Mezzofanti—the transfer of his residence to Rome—arose -directly out of his mission to that capital at -the termination of the Revolution of 1831, it is -necessary to revert, at least in outline, to the most -notable occurrences of the preceding years.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288"></a>[288]</span></p> - -<p>The discontent and turbulence which marked the -closing years of the reign of Pius VII. had in great -measure subsided under the impartial but vigorous -administration of Leo XII.; nor was the short -pontificate of his successor, Pius VIII. who succeeded -on the 31st of March, 1829, interrupted by any -overt expression of popular discontent. It was well -known, nevertheless, throughout this whole period, -that an active secret organization was in existence, -not alone in the Papal States, but in Naples, in the -Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, in the minor principalities -of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, and indeed -throughout the entire of Italy. Everywhere throughout -Italy, too, in addition to these secret associations, -still subsisted a remnant of the old French or -Franco-Italian party, who, while they submitted to -the existing state of things, and offered no resistance -to the established regime, concealing their discontent, -and cautiously repressing their aspirations after the -cherished vision of a “united and independent Italy,” -yet were notoriously dissatisfied with the domestic -governments, and lost no opportunity of embarrassing -their administration. Of this, in the Papal -States, Bologna had long been the centre.</p> - -<p>The Abate Mezzofanti had never taken any part -in political affairs; but his principles were well -known, and his antecedents had long marked him out -as an ardent and devoted adherent of the Papal rule. -Personally inoffensive and amiable as he was, therefore, -he was on these grounds, distasteful to certain -members of the anti-papal party. But by the great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289"></a>[289]</span> -body of his fellow-citizens he was regarded as a -man of thoroughly honourable principles; and we -shall see that in a crisis of great delicacy and importance -he was selected as one of their delegates -to the court of Gregory XVI.</p> - -<p>It is to these political animosities that allusion is -made in the following extremely interesting account -of Mezzofanti. It is from the pen of the distinguished -historian of the mathematical sciences in -Italy, M. Libri; whose name is in itself sufficient to -stamp with authority any statement bearing upon a -subject in which he has proved himself a master.</p> - -<p>For this most interesting communication I am -indebted to the good offices of Mr. Watts, to whom it -was addressed by M. Libri, in reply to an inquiry kindly -made on my behalf by that gentleman. M. Libri’s -letter is in English, and the purity of its language -and elegance of its style are in themselves no slight -evidence of his competence to pronounce upon -Mezzofanti’s accomplishments as a linguist, no less -than as a mathematician.</p> - -<p>M. Libri’s meeting with Mezzofanti occurred at -Bologna early in 1830, in the course of a literary -tour in which M. Libri was then engaged.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Among all these eminent men, the one that interested me -most was unquestionably the Abbé, (afterwards Cardinal) Mezzofanti, -who was then librarian at Bologna, and respecting whose -astonishing power in languages I had heard the most extraordinary -anecdotes. During a short excursion which I had previously -made to Bologna, I had already got a glimpse of that celebrated -man; but it was not until 1830 that I could be said to have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290"></a>[290]</span> -seen him. I was presented to him by one of my friends, Count -Bianchetti, and I was received by him with great kindness. He -made me promise to go and see him again, and offered to show -me the library. I accepted his offer eagerly; but it was principally -in the hope of having a long conversation with him that I -repaired to the library next day.</p> - -<p>Before going farther, I ought to say that I approached him with -mixed feelings. Personally, I have always been disposed to -respect and admire every man who possesses an incontestible -superiority in any branch of human knowledge; and in this -point of view, M. Mezzofanti, whom every body acknowledges -to be the man who knew and could speak more languages than -any other living man, had certainly a right to boundless admiration -on my part. It was popularly reported at Bologna, -that M. Mezzofanti, then fifty years old, knew as many languages -as he counted years; and I had heard related in respect -to him, by men in whose veracity I have full confidence, so -many extraordinary histories, that he became in my eyes a sort -of hero of legend or romance; but a hero of flesh and blood, -who realized or even surpassed all the wonders attributed to -Mithridates as a linguist. On the other hand, the liberal -party, who certainly had no sympathies with the Abbé Mezzofanti, -spread reports against him, by no means flattering; among -which the one that had most frequently reached my ears, consisted -in its being ceaselessly repeated, that the celebrated librarian -at Bologna was a sort of parrot, endowed with the faculty of -articulating sounds which he had heard, that he was only a -miracle of memory, understanding having nothing to do with it; -and that, independently of this trick of getting words by heart, -this extraordinary man possessed no solid information, and little -philological erudition. Without blindly adopting this bare assertion, -I must acknowledge that the judgment passed on Mezzofanti -by persons of some consideration, had made an impression -upon my mind, far from being favourable to him: but that -impression was soon dissipated in the course of the interview -I had with him. Before leaving Florence, I had just read and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291"></a>[291]</span> -carefully studied the treatise on Indefinite Algebra, composed -several ages before by Brahmegupta, and which, translated and -enriched with an admirable introduction by Colebroke, had been -published in London, in 1817.<a id="FNanchor_434" href="#Footnote_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> Being still filled with admiration -for the labours of the ancient Hindoos on indeterminate -analysis, I mentioned the book casually to Mezzofanti, and -merely to show him that even a man almost exclusively devoted to -the study of mathematics, might take a lively interest in the labours -of the Orientalists. I had no intention of introducing a scientific -conversation on this subject with the celebrated librarian; and I -must even add, that I thought him quite incapable of engaging -in one. How great then was my surprise, when I saw him immediately -seize the opportunity, and speak to me during half an -hour on the astronomy and mathematics of the Indian races, in -a way which would have done honour to a man whose chief occupation -had been tracing the history of the sciences. Deeply -astonished at so specific a knowledge, which had taken me quite -unexpectedly, I eagerly sought explanation from him on points -which had seemed to me the most difficult in the history of -India; such, for instance, as the probable epoch when certain -Indian astronomers had lived, before the Mahometan conquest, -and how far those astronomers might have been able, directly or -indirectly, to borrow from the Greeks. On all those points -Mezzofanti answered on the spot, with great modesty, and as a -man who knows how to doubt; but proving to me at the same -time, that those were questions on which his mind had already -paused, and which he had approached with all the necessary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292"></a>[292]</span> -accomplishment of the accessory sciences. I cannot express how -much that conversation interested me; and I did not delay to -testify to Mezzofanti all the admiration which knowledge -at once so varied and so profound, had excited in me. No more -was said of visiting the library, or of seeing books. I had -before me a most extraordinary living book, and one well calculated -to confound the imagination. Encouraged by his courtesy and -modesty, I could not resist my desire of putting questions to -him on the mode which he had employed in making himself -master of so many languages. He positively assured me, but -without entering into any detail, that it was a thing less difficult -than was generally thought; that there is in all languages a -limited number of points to which it is necessary to pay particular -attention; and that, when one is once master of those points, -the remainder follows with great facility. He added, that, when -one has learned ten or a dozen languages essentially different -from one another, one may, with a little study and attention, -learn any number of them. I strenuously urged him to publish -his experience on the subject and on the result of his labours; -but I observed in him a great aversion to the publication of his -researches. He affirmed that the more we study, the more do -we understand how difficult it is to avoid falling into errors; -and, in speaking to me of several writings which he had composed, -he told me that they were only essays which by no -means deserved to see the light. In the midst of the conversation, -as I was still urging him, he rose and went to look in a -box for a manuscript with coloured designs, which he showed -me, and which had for its object the explanation of the Mexican -hieroglyphics. Having begged him to publish at least that work, he -told me that it was only an essay, still imperfect, and that his -intention was to recast it completely.</p> - -<p>This excursion to America suggested to me the idea of putting -a new question to him. I had collected at Florence, particularly -with relation to bibliography, several translations of the -whole Bible, or certain portions of the sacred books, in different -foreign languages. Some of these translations were into languages -spoken by North American savages; and in looking through<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293"></a>[293]</span> -them I had been struck with the measureless length<a id="FNanchor_435" href="#Footnote_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> of most of -the words of these tongues. Since the opportunity presented -itself naturally, I asked M. Mezzofanti what he thought of those -words, and whether the men who spoke languages apparently so -calculated to put one out of breath, did not seem to be endowed with -peculiar organs. Immediately taking down a book written in one of -those languages, the celebrated linguist showed me practically how, -in his opinion, the savages managed to pronounce these interminable -words, without too much trouble. For fear of making mistakes, -I cannot venture, after twenty-five years, to reproduce this explanation -from memory. According to my usual practice, I had -written out, on my return home, the conversation which I had -just had with the celebrated linguist, and if I still possessed that -part of my journal you would find there almost the exact words -of the Abbé Mezzofanti; but those papers having been taken -away from me by people who, under a pretext as ridiculous as -odious, despoiled me, after the revolution of 1848, of all that I -possessed at Paris, I must confine myself to mentioning the fact -of the explanation which was given to me, without being able to -tell you in what that explanation consisted.</p> - -<p>After what I have just recounted to you, I could add nothing -to express to you the opinion which that long conversation with -M. Mezzofanti (which during the few days that I passed at Bologna -was followed by some other interviews much shorter, and as it -were fugitive,) left in my mind on the subject of the erudition, as -profound as it was various, of that universal linguist. As, however, -I express here an opinion which certainly was not that of everybody,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294"></a>[294]</span> -permit me to corroborate that opinion by the testimony of -Giordani, a man not only celebrated in Italy for the admirable purity -of his style, but who also enjoyed deserved reputation as a profound -Grecian, and a consummate Latin scholar. The testimony -of Giordani on the subject of the Abbé Mezzofanti is the more -remarkable, because, besides Giordani’s having (as is generally -known) a marked antipathy for the ultra-catholic party to which -Mezzofanti was thought to belong, he and the Abbé had had -some little personal quarrels the remembrance of which was not -effaced. Notwithstanding this, I read in the letters of Giordani -lately published at Milan, that, in his opinion, Mezzofanti was -quite a superior man.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>M. Libri<a id="FNanchor_436" href="#Footnote_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a> proceeds to cite several passages from -Giordani’s letters, which, as I have already quoted -them in their proper place, it is needless to repeat -here. Indeed no additional testimony could add -weight to his own authority on any of the subjects -to which he refers in this most interesting letter.</p> - -<p>Soon after this interview, the quiet of Mezzofanti’s -life was interrupted for a time. The Revolution of -Paris in July, 1830, and the events in Belgium -and Poland by which it was rapidly followed, -were not slow to provoke a response in Italy. -The long repressed hopes of the republican party were -thus suddenly realised, and the organization of the secret -societies became at once more active and more extended. -For a time the prudent and moderate policy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295"></a>[295]</span> -adopted by Pius VIII. in reference to the events -in France, had the effect of defeating the measures -of the Italian revolutionists; but his death on -the thirtieth of November in that year, appeared to -afford a favourable opportunity for their attempt. -During the conclave for the election of his successor, -all the preparations were made. The stroke was -sudden and rapid. The very day after the election -of Gregory XVI., but before the news had been -transmitted from Rome, an outbreak took place -at Modena. It was followed, on the next day, -by a similar proceeding at Bologna,—by the calling -out of a national guard, and the proclamation -of a provisional government. The Papal delegate -was expelled from Bologna. The Duke of Modena fled -to Mantua. Maria Louisa, Duchess of Parma, -took refuge in France. And on the 26th of the same -month, deputies from all the revolted states, by a joint -instrument, proclaimed the United Republic of Italy!</p> - -<p>This success, however, was as short-lived as it had -been rapid. The duke of Modena was reinstated by -the arms of Austria on the 9th of March. Order was -restored about the same date at Parma: and, before -the end of the month of March, all traces of the revolutionary -movement had for the time disappeared -throughout the States of the Church.<a id="FNanchor_437" href="#Footnote_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a></p> - -<p>It has been customary for the cities and <i>communi</i> -of the Papal States on the accession of each new Pontiff,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296"></a>[296]</span> -to send a deputation of their most notable citizens -to offer their homage and present their congratulations -at the foot of the throne. Many of the -chief cities had already complied with the established -usage.<a id="FNanchor_438" href="#Footnote_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a> Bologna, restored to a calmer mind, now -hastened to follow the example. Three delegates were -deputed for the purpose—the Marchese Zambeccari, -Count Lewis Isolani, and the abate Mezzofanti. They -arrived in Rome in the beginning of May,<a id="FNanchor_439" href="#Footnote_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> and on the -9th of the same month, were admitted to an audience -of the Pope, who received them with great kindness, -and inquired anxiously into the condition of Bologna, -and the grievances which had given occasion to the -recent discontents.</p> - -<p>To Mezzofanti in particular the Pope showed -marked attention. It had been one of his requests -to Cardinal Opizzoni, the archbishop, when returning -to Bologna on the suppression of the Revolution, that -he should send Professor Mezzofanti to visit him. -He still remembered the disinterestedness which the -professor had shewn in their first correspondence; and -the time had now come when it was in his power to -make some acknowledgment. A few days after Mezzofanti’s -arrival he was named domestic prelate and -proto-notary apostolic, and at his final audience before -returning to Bologna, the pope renewed in person -the invitation to settle permanently in Rome, -which had formerly been made to him by Cardinal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297"></a>[297]</span> -Consalvi on the part of Pius VII. Mezzofanti was -still as happy in his humble position as he had been -in 1815. He still retained his early love for his native -city and for the friends among whom he had now -begun to grow old. But to persist farther would be -ungracious. He could no longer be insensible to a -wish so flattering and so earnestly enforced. It was -not, however, until, as the Pope himself declared, -“after a long siege,” (<i>veramente un assedio</i>) that he -finally acquiesced;—overpowered, as it would seem, by -that genuine and unaffected cordiality which was the -great characteristic of the good Pope Gregory XVI.</p> - -<p>“Holy Father,” was his singularly graceful acknowledgment -of the kind interest which the Pope -had manifested in his regard, “people say that I -can speak a great many languages. In no one of -them, nor in them all, can I find words to express -how deeply I feel this mark of your Holiness’s regard.”</p> - -<p>It is hardly necessary to say that one of the very first -visits which he paid in Rome, was to the Propaganda. -On the morning after his arrival, the feast, -as it would seem, of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, -he went to the sacristy with the intention of saying -mass; and having, with his habitual retiringness, knelt -down to say the usual preparatory prayers without -making himself known, he remained for a considerable -time unobserved and therefore neglected. He was -at length recognised by Dr. Cullen, the present archbishop -of Dublin, (at that time professor of Scripture -in the Propaganda,) who at once procured for the distinguished -stranger the attention which he justly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298"></a>[298]</span> -deserved in such an institution. It is a pleasing illustration, -at once of the retentiveness of his memory -and of the simple kindliness of his disposition, that -in an interview with Dr. Cullen not very long before -his death, he reminded him of this circumstance, and -renewed his thanks even for so trifling a service. -After mass, he made his way, unattended, to one of -the <i>camerate</i>, or corridors. The first room which he -chanced to meet was that of a Turkish student, named -Hassun, now archbishop of the United Greek Church -at Constantinople. He at once entered into conversation -with Hassun in Turkish. This he speedily -changed to Romaic with a youth named Musabini, -who is now the Catholic Greek bishop at Smyrna. -From Greek he turned to English, on the approach -of Dr. O’Connor, an Irish student, now bishop of Pittsburgh -in the United States. As the unwonted sounds -began to attract attention, the students poured in, -one by one, each in succession to find himself greeted -in his native tongue; till at length, the bell -being rung, the entire community assembled, and -gave full scope to the wonderful quickness and variety -of his accomplishment. Dr. O’Connor describes -it as the most extraordinary scene he has ever witnessed; -and he adds a further very remarkable circumstance -that, during the many new visits which -Mezzofanti paid to the Propaganda afterwards, he -never once forgot the language of any student with -whom he had spoken on this occasion, nor once -failed to address him in his native tongue.</p> - -<p>The deputation returned to Bologna in the end of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299"></a>[299]</span> -June. Mezzofanti accompanied it, but only for the -purpose of making arrangements for his permanent -change of residence.</p> - -<p>He had accepted the commission with exceeding -reluctance, and it is painful to have to record that on -this, the only occasion on which he consented to leave -his habitual retirement, he was not suffered to escape -his share of the rude shocks and buffets which seem -to be inseparable from public life.</p> - -<p>All who were most familiar with Mezzofanti, to -whatever party in Italian politics they belonged, have -borne testimony to the sincerity of his convictions and -the entire disinterestedness of his views—a disinterestedness -which had marked the entire tenor of his -life, and had been attested by long and painful -sacrifices. Nevertheless, on the return of the -Bolognese deputation from Rome, he had the -mortification to find his conduct misrepresented and -his motives maligned. The marked attention which -he had experienced at the hands of the Pope, was -made a crime. His simple and long-tried loyalty—the -spontaneous homage which a mind such as his -renders almost by instinct—was denounced as the interested -subserviency of a courtier; and the favours -which had been bestowed on him in Rome, were represented -as the price of his treason to Bologna.</p> - -<p>Mezzofanti felt deeply these ungenerous and unfounded -criticisms. His health was seriously affected -by the chagrin which they occasioned; and these -memories of his last days in Bologna often clouded -in after years the happier reminiscences of his native -city on which his mind delighted to dwell.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300"></a>[300]</span></p> - -<p>Owing to the unsettled condition of Italy during this -year, but few Englishmen visited Bologna. Among these -were Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, Canon of Westminster -(who also saw Mezzofanti in the following year -in Rome,) and Mr. Milnes, of Frystone Hall, Yorkshire, -father of the poet, Mr. Richard Monckton -Milnes. The latter was much amused by Mezzofanti’s -proposing, when he heard he was a Yorkshire man, to -speak Welsh with him, “<i>as Yorkshire lay so near -Wales!</i>”</p> - -<p>It would hardly be worth while to note this amusing -blunder in English topography, (a blunder more -remarkable in Mezzofanti, as in all geographical -details he was ordinarily extremely accurate,) were it -not that it is another testimony on the disputed -question of his acquaintance with the Welsh language.</p> - -<p>He left Bologna finally for Rome in October, 1831. -The Pope afterwards used jokingly to say, that “the -acquisition of Mezzofanti for Rome was the only good -that came of the Revolution of Bologna in 1831.” -By the kind care of the Pope, he was provided with -apartments in the Quirinal Palace, nearly opposite -the Church of Saint Andrew—the same apartments -at the window of which the lamented Monsignor -Palma was shot during the late Revolution.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301"></a>[301]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1831-33.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>It is one of Rochefoucauld’s maxims, that “in -order to establish a great reputation, it is not -enough for one to possess great qualities, he must -also economize them.” If Mezzofanti had desired to -act upon this prudent principle, he could not possibly -have chosen a worse position than Rome.</p> - -<p>From the very moment of his arrival there, his gift -of language was daily, and almost hourly, exposed to -an ordeal at once more varied and more severe -than it would have encountered in any other city in -the world. Without taking into account the many -eminent linguists, native and foreign, for whom Rome -has ever been celebrated; without reckoning the -varying periodical influx of sight-seers, from every -country in Europe, who are attracted to that city by -the unrivalled splendour of her sacred ceremonial, and -the more constant, though less noisy, stream of pilgrims -from the remotest lands, who are drawn by duty, -by devotion, or by ecclesiastical affairs, to the great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302"></a>[302]</span> -centre of Catholic unity;—the permanent population -of the Eternal City will be found to comprise a variety -of races and tongues, such as would be sought in -vain in any other region of the earth. From a very -early period, the pious liberality, sometimes of the -popes, sometimes of the natives of the various countries -themselves, began to found colleges for the education, -under the very shadow of the chair of Peter, -of at least a select few among the clergy of each -people; and, notwithstanding the confiscations of -later times, there are few among the more prominent -nationalities which do not even still possess in Rome, -either a special national establishment, or, at least, a -special foundation for national purposes in some of -the many general establishments of the city. In like -manner, most of the great religious orders, both of -the East and of the West, possess separate houses -for each of the countries in which they are established; -and few, even of the most superficial visitors -of Rome, can have failed to observe, among the animated -groups which throng the Pincian Hill or the -Strada Pia, at the approach of the Ave Maria, the -striking variety of picturesque costumes by which -these national orders are distinguished. Each, again, -of the several rites in communion with the Holy -See—the Greek, the Syrian, the Coptic, the Armenian—has, -for the most part, an archbishop or bishop -resident at Rome, to afford information or counsel on -affairs connected with its national usages, and to -take a part in all the solemn ceremonials, as a living -witness of the universality of the Church.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303"></a>[303]</span></p> - -<p>But before all, and more than all, is the great -Urban College—the college of the Propaganda—which -unites in itself all the nationalities already -described, together with many others of which no -type is found elsewhere in Europe. Every variety -of language and dialect throughout the wide range -of western Christendom;—every eastern form of -speech</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From silken Samarcand to cedared Lebanon;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">many of the half explored languages of the northern -and southern continents of America; and more -than one of the rude jargons of north and north-eastern -Africa, may be found habitually domiciled -within its walls. In the year 1837, when Dr. Wap, -a Dutch traveller, who has written well and learnedly -on Rome, visited the establishment, the hundred and -fourteen students who appeared upon its register, -comprised no less than forty-one distinct nationalities.<a id="FNanchor_440" href="#Footnote_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a></p> - -<p>Amid the vast variety of speech with which he -was thus brought habitually into contact, Mezzofanti, -even if he had desired to “economize” his reputed -gifts, could not possibly have done so without provoking -a suspicion of their questionableness, or at -least of their superficial character. Nor, on the other -hand, would he have ventured to expose the undeniable -reputation which he had already established, -although upon a provincial theatre, to the ordeal -which awaited him in the great centre of languages, -living or dead, had he not been supported by the consciousness<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304"></a>[304]</span> -of the reality of his attainments, as well -as attracted by the very prospect of increased facilities -for pursuing and extending the researches which -had been the business and the enjoyment of his life. -At all events, we shall see that from the first -moment of his establishment in Rome, so far from -having “economized” his extraordinary faculty of -language, he was most assiduous, and in truth prodigal, -in its exercise.</p> - -<p>Immediately on his arrival he was appointed canon -of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. This, -however, was but an earnest of the intentions of the -Pope, who, from the first, destined him for the highest -honours of the Roman Church. It is clear, nevertheless, -from his correspondence, that his affections -still clung to his beloved Bologna. On occasion of his -first new year in his new residence, he received -many letters from his old friends, conveying to him -the ordinary new year’s greetings. From his reply -to one of these letters which was addressed to him -by a friend, Signor Michele Ferrucci, professor of Eloquence -in the university, we may gather how warm -and cordial were the attachments which he had left -behind.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right"><i>Rome, January 4, 1852.</i></p> - -<p>“The new-year greetings which, for so many years, I used to -receive from you in person, were always most grateful to me, -because I knew them to be the genuine expression of your affection -for me. In like manner the kind wishes conveyed in your -letter are no less acceptable, since they show me that separation -has not diminished your regard. I shall always retain a -lively sense of it; and wherever I may be, it shall be my endeavour<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305"></a>[305]</span> -to give proofs by my conduct that I am not insensible -to it. Let one of these be the assurance of my most zealous -exertions to secure for you the change of position which you are -seeking, from the chair of eloquence to that of assistant professor -of archæology. I think it advisable that means should be taken -to make known here the wishes of the professor himself, the -Canonico Schiassi; and it is indispensable that the measure should -not only originate with his eminence the arch-chancellor, but -should have his most earnest support. So far as I am concerned, -I shall leave nothing undone that may tend to further your -wishes.</p> - -<p>I was deeply affected in reading your wife’s sonnets on the -death of her sister and her father. May God grant that, this -great affliction past, a heart so full of tenderness as hers, may -meet nothing in life but joy and consolation in the continued -prosperity of her dear family! Present my respects to her, and -make my compliments to my old associates in the library. I -never for a single day forget that happy spot, and I seldom cease -to speak of it.</p> - -<p>If there be any matter in which I can be of use to you, I beg of -you not to spare me.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>One of Mezzofanti’s first impulses on his being -established in Rome, was to turn to account, as a means -of extending his store of languages, the manifold -advantages of his new position. On a careful -survey of the rich and varied resources supplied by -the foreign ecclesiastical establishments of Rome, -and especially by the great treasure-house of the Propaganda, -he found that there was one language, and -that a language to which he had long and anxiously -looked forward—the Chinese—which was, as yet, -entirely unrepresented; the native students destined -for the mission of China, being at that time exclusively -educated in the Chinese College at Naples. It<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_306"></a>[306]</span> -happened most opportunely that at this time Monsignor -de Bossi, (afterwards administrator Apostolic of -Nankin), was about to visit that institution, and proposed -to Mezzofanti to accompany him;—a proposal -which, as filling up agreeably the interval of rest -which he enjoyed before entering upon the routine of -the duties which awaited him, he gladly accepted.</p> - -<p>The Chinese College of Naples was founded in -1725, by the celebrated Father Matthew Ripa,<a id="FNanchor_441" href="#Footnote_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> with -the permission of the reigning Pope Benedict XIII, -and was formally approved by a bull of Clement -XIII, April 5, 1732.<a id="FNanchor_442" href="#Footnote_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> In the earlier and more -favoured days of the Chinese mission, although it -was chiefly supplied by European clergy, yet the missionaries -freely opened, not alone elementary schools, -but seminaries for the training of native catechists -who assisted in the work of the mission, even within -the precincts of the Imperial City. But the unhappy -divisions among the missionaries upon the well-known -question, as to the lawfulness of the so-called “Chinese -ceremonies;” and the severe enactments which followed -the final and decisive condemnation of these -ceremonies by Clement XI., not only cut off all hope -of this domestic supply of catechists, but effectually -excluded all European missionaries from -the Chinese Empire. The only hope, therefore, of sustaining -the mission was to provide a supply of native<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_307"></a>[307]</span> -clergy, who might pass unnoticed among the population, -or who would at least possess one chance of -security against detection, which the very appearance -of a foreigner would preclude. With this view, -Father Ripa brought together at Pekin a small number -of youths, whom he hoped to train up under a -native master, engaged by him for the purpose. A -short experience of this plan, however, convinced him, -not merely of its danger, but even of its absolute -impracticability; and he saw that the only hope of -success for such an institution would be, not only -to place the establishment beyond the reach of persecution -from the Chinese authorities, but, (as the great -Pope Innocent III. had contemplated a college at -Paris for native Greek youths),<a id="FNanchor_443" href="#Footnote_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a> even to withdraw -the candidates altogether for a time from the contagion -of domestic influences and domestic associations. -Himself a Neapolitan, (having been born at Eboli, in the -kingdom of Naples,) Ripa’s thoughts naturally turned -to his own country for the means of accomplishing his -design; and, after numberless difficulties, he succeeding -in transferring to his native city, under the -name of “the Holy Family of Jesus Christ,” the -institution which he had projected at Pekin. It consists -of two branches, the college, and the congregation. -The latter is an association of priests and -lay brothers, (not bound, however, by religious -vows), very similar in its constitution to the -Oratory of St. Philip Neri. The object of their -association is the care and direction of the College.</p> - -<p>The College, on the other hand, is designed for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_308"></a>[308]</span> -purpose of educating and preparing for the priesthood, -or at least for the office of catechist, natives of China, -Cochin China, Pegu, Tonquin, and the Indian Peninsula. -They are maintained free of all cost, and -are conducted to Europe and back to their native -country at the charge of the congregation; merely -binding themselves to devote their lives, either -as priests or as catechists, to the duties of their native -mission, under the direction and jurisdiction of -the sacred congregation of the Propaganda. Since -the time of the withdrawal of the European missionaries -from China, the mission has relied mainly -upon this admirable institution; and even still -its members continue to deserve well of the Church. -The priest, Francis Tien, whose cruel sufferings -for the faith are detailed by Mgr. Rizzolati in a -letter published in the Annals of the Propagation -of the Faith, July 1846, was a pupil of this college. -So likewise is the excellent and zealous priest, Thomas -Pian, who recently volunteered his services to the -Propaganda as a missionary to the Chinese immigrants -in California.</p> - -<p>At the time of Mezzofanti’s visit, March 23, 1832, -the superior of the college of the Congregation was -Father John Borgia, the last direct representative -of the noble family of that name. He received the -great linguist with the utmost cordiality; and during -the entire time of his sojourn, the students and superiors -vied with each other in their attentions to their -distinguished guest. From the moment of his arrival -he had thrown himself with all his characteristic -energy into the study of the language; and notwithstanding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_309"></a>[309]</span> -its proverbial difficulty, and its even to him -entirely novel character, he succeeded in an incredibly -short time in mastering all the essential principles of -its rudimental structure. Most unfortunately, however, -before he had time to pursue his advantage, his -strength gave way under this excessive application, -and he was seized with a violent fever,<a id="FNanchor_444" href="#Footnote_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a> by which -his life was for some time seriously endangered. The -fever was attended by delirium, the effect of which, -according to several writers<a id="FNanchor_445" href="#Footnote_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a> who relate the circumstance, -was to confuse his recollection of the several -languages which he had acquired, and to convert his -speech into a laughable jumble of them all. This, however, -although an amusing traveller’s story, is but a -traveller’s story after all. Mezzofanti himself told -Cardinal Wiseman that the effect of his illness was -not merely to confuse, but to <i>suspend his memory -altogether</i>. He completely forgot all his languages. -His mind appeared to return to its first uneducated condition -of thought, and whatever he chanced to express -in the course of his delirium was spoken in simple -Italian, as though he had never passed outside of its -limits.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_310"></a>[310]</span></p> - -<p>He was so debilitated by this illness, that immediately -upon his convalescence it became necessary for -him to return to Rome without attempting to resume -his Chinese studies. Most opportunely, however, -for his wishes, the authorities of the Propaganda some -years afterwards transferred to Rome, as we shall see, -a certain number of these Chinese students, with the -view of enabling them to complete with greater advantage -in the great missionary college the studies -which they had commenced in what might almost be -called a domestic institution. With their friendly -assistance Mezzofanti completed what had been so -inauspiciously interrupted by his illness.<a id="FNanchor_446" href="#Footnote_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a></p> - -<p>The fatigues of the homeward journey brought on a -renewal of the fever; and for some weeks after his return -to Rome, (from which he had been absent about -two months,) he suffered considerably from its effects. -Happily, however, it left no permanent trace in his -constitution, and the autumn of 1832 found him engaged -once more with all his usual energy in his -favourite pursuit. The intention of the Pope in inviting -him to Rome, had been to place him at the -head of the Vatican Library, as successor of the celebrated -Monsignor Angelo Mai, then First Keeper of -that collection, who was about to be transferred to -the Secretaryship of the Propaganda. The arrangements -connected with this change of offices, however,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_311"></a>[311]</span> -were not yet completed, and Mezzofanti availed himself -industriously of this interval of comparative leisure -which the delay placed at his disposal. His position -at Rome brought him into contact with several languages -of which he had never before met any living -representative; and many of those which he had -hitherto had but rare and casual opportunities of -speaking or hearing spoken were now placed within -his reach as languages of daily and habitual use. In -the Maronite convent of Sant’ Antonio he had ancient -and modern Syriac, with its various modifications, at -his command. For Armenian, Persian, and Turkish, the -two learned Mechitarist communities of San Giuseppe -and Sant’ Antonio supplied abundant and willing -masters. One of these, the eminent linguist Padre -Aucher, whose English-Armenian Grammar Lord -Byron more than once commemorates as their joint -production,<a id="FNanchor_447" href="#Footnote_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a> was himself master of no less than twelve -languages. To the Ruthenian priests of S. Maria -in Navicella, he could refer for more than one of -the Sclavonic languages. The Greek college of St. -Athanasius, owing to the late troubles in Greece, -was then untenanted, but there were several Greek -students in the Propaganda, awaiting its re-opening, -which took place in 1837. The celebrated Persian -scholar, Sebastiani, had just recently returned to -Rome. Signor Drach, a learned Hebrew convert, -was Librarian of the Propaganda; and a venerable -Egyptian priest, Don Georgio Alabada, supplied<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_312"></a>[312]</span> -an opportunity of practice in the ancient Coptic, as -well as in the Arabic dialect of modern Egypt.</p> - -<p>In the German College were to be found not only -all the principal tongues of the Austrian Empire, -German, Magyar, Czechish and Polish, but many of -its more obscure languages—Romanic, Wallachian, Servian, -and many minor varieties of German, Rhetian, -(the dialect of the Graubünden, or Grisons) Dutch, -Flemish, and Frisian. In reference to some of these -languages, I have been able to avail myself of the -recollections of more than one student of this noble -institution, as witness of Mezzofanti’s extraordinary -proficiency.</p> - -<p>He was on terms of the closest intimacy with the -Abbé Lacroix, of the French church of St. Lewis, -since known as the editor of the <i>Systema Theologicum</i> -of Leibnitz. The Rector of the English College, Dr. -(now Cardinal) Wiseman, even then a distinguished -orientalist, and professor of oriental languages in the -Roman university, and the Rector of the Irish -College, the present Archbishop of Dublin, were his -especial friends. In both these establishments, he -was a welcome and not unfrequent visitant.</p> - -<p>The several embassies, also, afforded another, though -of course less familiar school. He often met M. Bunsen, -the Minister Resident of Prussia; he was frequently -the guest of the Marquis de Lavradio, the Portuguese -ambassador, and Don Manuel de Barras, whose letter -attesting the purity and perfection of Mezzofanti’s -Castilian, is now before me, was an attaché of the -Spanish Embassy.</p> - -<p>The Propaganda, however, itself a perfect microcosm<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_313"></a>[313]</span> -of language, was his principal, as well as his -favourite school. For his simple and lively disposition, -the society of the young had always possessed a -special charm; and to his very latest hour of health, he -continued to find his favourite relaxation among the -youths of this most interesting institution. In summer, -he commonly spent an hour, in winter an hour -and a half, in the Propaganda, partly in the library, -partly among the students, among whom he held the -place alternately of master and of pupil;—and, what is -still more curious, he occasionally appeared in both -capacities, first learning a language from the lips of -a student, and then in his turn instructing his teacher -in the grammatical forms and constitution of the -very language he had taught him!</p> - -<p>Independently, indeed, of study altogether, the -Propaganda was for years his favourite place of resort, -and there was no place where his playful and ingenuous -character was more pleasingly displayed. He -mixed among the pupils as one of themselves, with all -the ease of an equal, and without a shade of that laborious -condescension which often makes the affability -of superiors an actual penance to those whom they -desire to render happy. While the cheerfulness of -his conversation was often tempered by grave advice -or tender exhortation, it was commonly lively and -even playful, and frequently ran into an amusing -exhibition which those who witnessed never could -forget. In the free and familiar intercourse which he -encouraged and maintained, there sometimes arose -sportive trials of skill, in which the great amusement<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_314"></a>[314]</span> -of his young friends consisted in endeavouring to -puzzle him by a confusion of languages, and to provoke -him into answering in a language different from -that in which he was addressed. The idea of these -trials (which reminded one of the old-fashioned game -of “cross-question,”) appears to have originated in a -good-humoured surprise, which the Pope Gregory -XVI. played off on Mezzofanti soon after his arrival -in Rome. The linguist, however, was equal to the -emergency. Like the good knight, Sir Tristram, -he proved</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Most master of himself, and least encumbered,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When over-matched, entangled, and outnumbered.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">“One day,” says M. Manavit, “Gregory XVI. -provided an agreeable surprise for the polyglot prelate, -and a rare treat for himself, in an improvised -conversation in various tongues—a regular linguistic -tournament. Among the mazy alleys of the Vatican -gardens, behind one of the massive walls of verdure -which form its peculiar glory, the Pope placed a certain -number of the Propaganda students in ambuscade. -When the time came for his ordinary walk, -he invited Mezzofanti to accompany him; and, as -they were proceeding gravely and solemnly, on a sudden, -at a given signal, these youths grouped themselves -for a moment on their knees before his Holiness, and -then, quickly rising, addressed themselves to Mezzofanti, -each in his own tongue, with such an abundance -of words and such a volubility of tone, that, in the -jargon of dialects, it was almost impossible to hear, -much less to understand them. But Mezzofanti did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_315"></a>[315]</span> -not shrink from the conflict. With the promptness -and address which were peculiar to him, he took them -up singly, and replied to each in his own language, -with such spirit and elegance as to amaze them all.”</p> - -<p>In addition to these increased opportunities of exercise, -he also derived much assistance, in the more -obscure and uncommon department of his peculiar -studies, from the libraries of Rome, and especially -from that of the Propaganda. The early elementary -books, grammars, vocabularies, catechisms, &c., prepared -for the use of missionaries in the remote -missions, have for the most part been printed at the -Propaganda press: and the library of that institution -contains in manuscript similar elementary treatises -in languages for the study of which no printed materials -existed at that time. To all these, of course, the -great linguist enjoyed the freest access; and it can -hardly be doubted that, during the first year of his -residence in Rome, he did more to enlarge his stock -of words, and to perfect his facility and fluency in -conversation, than perhaps in any previous year of -his life.</p> - -<p>Immediately upon Mgr. Mai’s appointment to the -Secretaryship of the Propaganda, May 15th, 1833, -Mezzofanti was installed as <i>Primo Custode</i>, First -Keeper of the Vatican Library; and about the same -time he was appointed to a Canonry in St. Peter’s. -In the midst of the warm congratulations which he -received from all sides, it was not without considerable -distrust of his own powers, that he entered upon -the office of Librarian, as the successor of a scholar -so eminent as Angelo Mai.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_316"></a>[316]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“It is no ordinary distinction,” he wrote to his friend Cav. -Pezzana, “to be called to succeed Mgr. Mai in the care of the Vatican -Library,—a post which has derived new brilliancy from the -brilliant qualities of its latest occupant: nor can I overcome my -apprehension lest the honour which I may gain by my first few -hours of office may decline, when it comes to be seen how great -is the difference between this distinguished man and his successor. -This fear, I confess, is a drawback upon my joy at this -happy event; but at the same time, I trust it will also stimulate -me to make every effort that the lustre of a position in itself -so honourable, may not be tarnished in my person. I have only -to wish that your congratulation, coming as it does from a kindly -feeling, may be an earnest of the successful exercise of the diligence -I am determined to use in my new career, which is all the -more grateful and honourable to me, as it furnishes more frequent -occasions of corresponding with you.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>There is another of his letters of the same period, -which to many perhaps will appear trivial, but which -points in a still more amiable light, not alone his -unaffected piety and humility, but the homely simplicity -of his disposition, and the affection with which -he cherished all the domestic relations. It is addressed -to his cousin, Antonia, who has already been -mentioned in a former part of this Memoir, but who, for -some years before Mezzofanti’s leaving Bologna, had -been afflicted with blindness. On the occasion of his -appointment, this lady employed the pen of a common -friend, Signora Galli, of Bologna, to convey her congratulations -to Mezzofanti. It would seem, moreover, -that she had intended on the same occasion to make -him a present, which Mezzofanti, out of consideration -for her limited means, had thought it expedient to -decline.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_317"></a>[317]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<i>Bologna, December 14, 1833.</i></p> - -<p>My most esteemed cousin,</p> - -<p>Accept, in return for all your kind congratulations and good wishes, -my most sincere prayer that God may bestow upon you all the -choicest blessings of the approaching festival. There is <i>one</i> -present which it is in your power to make me, and one which is -especially suitable to a person so entirely devoted to God as you -are: it is to offer up the holy communion for me on one of the -coming festivals. I, upon my part, will offer the Holy -Sacrifice for you on the feast of St. John; and on the same day I -will make a special memento of your good parish priest, the abate -Landrino, who once, upon the same day, showed me a kindness -which I shall never forget. Pray remember me to him, and also -to dear Signora Galli, in whom, as your secretary, you have found -an admirable exponent of your affectionate sentiments, for which -I am deeply grateful to you both. My nephews unite in best -wishes for your health and happiness. Make the best report -from me at home, and believe me always, your most affectionate -cousin,</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Joseph Mezzofanti</span>.”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_318"></a>[318]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1834.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>It may perhaps be convenient to interrupt the -narrative at this point, for the purpose of bringing -together a number of miscellaneous reports regarding -certain languages of minor note ascribed to Mezzofanti, -which, through the kindness of many friends, -have come into my hands. I shall select those languages -especially, respecting his acquaintance with -which some controversy has arisen. As my principal -object in collecting these reports has simply been -to obtain a body of trustworthy materials, whereupon -to found an estimate of the real extent of the great -linguist’s attainments, I shall not consider it necessary -here to follow any exact philological arrangement; -but shall present the notices of the several -languages, as nearly as possible in the order of the -years to which they belong, reserving for a later -time the general summary of the results.</p> - -<p>I shall commence with a language to which some -allusions have been made already—the Welsh.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_319"></a>[319]</span></p> - -<p>Mr. Watts, in his admirable paper so often cited, -has recorded it, as the opinion of Mr. Thomas Ellis of -the British Museum—“a Welsh gentleman, who saw -Mezzofanti more than once in his later years—that -he was unable to keep up, or even understand, a conversation -in the language of the Cymry.”<a id="FNanchor_448" href="#Footnote_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a> It is difficult -to reconcile this statement with the positive -assertion of Mr. Harford, which we have seen in a -former page;—that, even as early as 1817, he himself -“heard Mezzofanti speak Welsh.” It might perhaps -be suggested, as a solution of the difficulty, that in -the long interval between Mr. Harford’s visit, and -that of Mr. Ellis, Mezzofanti’s memory, tenacious as -it was, had failed in this one particular; but, about -the period to which we have now arrived, there are -other witnesses who are quite as explicit as Mr. -Harford.</p> - -<p>Early in the year 1834, Dr. Forster, an English -gentleman who has resided much abroad, and who -(although, from the circumstance of his books being -privately printed, little known to the English public) -is the author of several curious and interesting works, -visited Mezzofanti in the Vatican Library.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“To-day,” (May 14, 1834) he writes in a work entitled <i>Annales -d’un Physicien Voyageur</i>, “I visited Signor Mezzofanti, celebrated -for his knowledge of more than forty ancient and modern -languages. He is secretary of the Vatican—a small man with -an air of great intelligence, and with the organs of language -highly developed in his face. We talked a great deal about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_320"></a>[320]</span> -philology, and he told me many interesting anecdotes of his manner -of learning different languages. As I was myself acquainted -with ten languages, I wished to test the ability of this eminent -linguist; and therefore proposed that we should leave Italian for -the moment, and amuse ourselves by speaking different other -languages. Having spoken in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, -German, and Dutch, I said at last:—</p> - -<p>‘My friend, I have almost run out my stock of modern languages, -except some which you probably do not know.’</p> - -<p>‘Well,’ said he, ‘the dead languages, Latin and Greek, are -matters which every one learns, and which every educated man -is familiar with. We shall not mind them. But pray tell me -what others you speak.’</p> - -<p>‘I speak a little Welsh,’ I replied.</p> - -<p>‘Good,’ said he, ‘I also know Welsh.’ And he began to -talk to me at once, like a Welsh peasant. He knew also the -other varieties of Celtic, Gælic, Irish, and Bas-Breton.”<a id="FNanchor_449" href="#Footnote_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>Some time after the visit of Mr. Harford, too, but -before Mezzofanti had left Bologna, when Dr. Baines, -then Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of England, -(in which Wales was included,) was passing -through that city, the abate, concluding (erroneously, -as Dr. Baines had the mortification to confess,) that -the bishop of Wales must necessarily be an authority -upon its language, came to him with a Welsh Bible, -to ask his assistance on some points connected with -the pronunciation, being already acquainted with the -language itself.<a id="FNanchor_450" href="#Footnote_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_321"></a>[321]</span></p> - -<p>Another of his visitors, while at Bologna, has put -on record a testimony to the same effect, which, although -it does not expressly allude to Mezzofanti’s -speaking the language, yet evidently supposes his acquaintance -with it, and which moreover is interesting -for its own sake. I allude to Dr. W. F. Edwards, -of Paris, author of an able and curious essay addressed -to the historian, Amedée Thierry, “On the Physiological -Characters of the Races of Man, in their Relation -to History.” In this essay, while combating -the popular notion, that in England the ancient British -race has been completely displaced by the various -northern conquerors who have overrun the country, -Dr. Edwards alleges in support of his own -work, which he heard expressed by Mezzofanti, and -which, although founded on purely philological principles,<a id="FNanchor_451" href="#Footnote_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> -he regards as a singular confirmation of his -own physiological deductions.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I owe,” he says, “to the celebrated Mezzofanti, whom I had the -pleasure of meeting at Bologna, an example of what I have been -urging; and I am glad to repeat it here for more reasons than -one. You will see in it a further confirmation of the conclusion regarding -the Britons of England, which I have deduced from sources -of a very different kind. If there is any characteristic which -distinguishes English from the other modern languages of -Europe, it is the extreme irregularity of its pronunciation. -In other languages, when you have once mastered the fundamental -sounds, you are enabled, by the aid of certain general rules, to -pronounce the words with a tolerable approach to accuracy, even -without understanding the meaning. In English you can never<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_322"></a>[322]</span> -pronounce until you have actually learned the language. Mezzofanti, -in speaking to me of Welsh, traced to that language the origin -of this peculiarity of the English. I had no necessity to ask him -through what channel. I knew, as well as he, that the English could -not have borrowed from the Welsh; and that, before the Saxon invasion, -the Britons had spoken the same language which afterwards -became peculiar to Wales. Thus of his own accord and -without my seeking for it, he gave me a new proof, entirely independent -of the reasons which had already led me to the conviction -that, despite the Saxon conquest, the Britons had never -ceased to exist in England. They had for centuries been deemed -extinct; and yet he recognises their descendants, so to speak, by -the sound of their voice, as I have recognised them by their features! -What more is needed to establish the identity?”</p> - -</div> - -<p>In the marked conflict between these testimonies -and the strong adverse opinion expressed by Mr. -Ellis, “that the Cardinal was unable to keep up or -even understand a conversation in the language of -the Cymry,” nay that “he could not even read an -ordinary book with facility,” I have had inquiries -made through several Welsh friends, the result of -which, coupled with the authorities already cited, satisfies -me that Mr. Ellis was certainly mistaken in his -judgment. The belief that Mezzofanti knew and -spoke Welsh appears to be universal. Mr. Rhys Powel, -a Welsh gentleman who was personally acquainted -with him, often heard that he understood Welsh, and -I have received a similar assurance from a Welsh -clergyman of my acquaintance. Mr. Rhys Powel, -mentions the name of the late Mr. Williams of -Aberpergwin, as having “actually conversed with -the Cardinal in Welsh,” during a visit to Rome some -time before his eminence’s death; and a short composition<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_323"></a>[323]</span> -of his in that language, which I submitted -to two eminent Welsh scholars, is pronounced by -them not only correct, but idiomatic in its structure -and phraseology.</p> - -<p>With such a number of witnesses, entirely independent -of each other, and spread over so long a period, -attesting Mezzofanti’s knowledge of Welsh, I can -hardly hesitate to conclude that Mr. Ellis’s impression -to the contrary must have arisen from some accidental -misunderstanding, or perhaps from one of -those casual failures from which even the most perfect -are not altogether exempt. The concluding paragraph -of Dr. Edward’s notice is interesting, although -upon a different ground.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“It is to be regretted,” he adds, “that a man who surpasses all -others by his prodigious knowledge of languages, should content -himself with what is but an evidence of his own learning, and should -conceal from the world the science upon which that learning is -founded. It is not to his prodigious memory and the, so to say, -inborn aptitude of his mind for retaining words and their combinations, -that he owes the facility with which he masters all languages, -but to his eminently analytical mind, which rapidly penetrates -their genius and makes it its own. I collect from himself -that he studies languages, rather through their spirit than through -their letter. What do we know of the spirit of languages? -Almost nothing. But if Mezzofanti would communicate to the -world the fruit of his observations, we should see a new science -arise amongst us.”<a id="FNanchor_452" href="#Footnote_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>It will be recollected that Flemish was one of the -minor languages which he acquired during his residence -at Bologna. From the time of his settling at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_324"></a>[324]</span> -Rome, his opportunities of practice in this and the -kindred dialect of Holland, were almost of daily occurrence. -One of the earliest appears to have been -afforded by his intercourse with a young student of -the Germanic College, the abbé Malou, since one of -the most distinguished of the Catholic literatî of Belgium,<a id="FNanchor_453" href="#Footnote_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> -for several years Professor of Scripture in -the University of Louvain, and now Bishop of Bruges. -Monseigneur Malou has been good enough to note -down for me his recollections of his intercourse with -Mezzofanti, in so far as they relate to his native -language.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“During my stay in Rome (1831-35), I conversed several times -in Flemish with Cardinal Mezzofanti, and I was thus enabled to -ascertain that he understood our language thoroughly. He spoke -to me of the works of Cats and Vondel, two distinguished Flemish -poets, which he had read. Nevertheless, I fancied that I perceived -his vocabulary to be rather limited. He often repeated -the same words and phrases. He spoke with a Brabant accent, -for he had learned Flemish from some young men of Brussels, -who studied at the University of Bologna, in which his Eminence -was at that time Librarian. Monsignor Mezzofanti, after -I had spoken, remarked of himself, that I, being a Fleming, did -not speak as they do in Brabant; and hence he had a difficulty -in catching some of my expressions, which he requested me to -repeat. It is, therefore, not quite correct to say, that he knew -our different dialects; but, if he had had occasion to learn them, -he could, without doubt, have done so with great ease.</p> - -<p>Some days before my departure from Rome, in May, 1835, -I met this learned dignitary in the sacristy of S. Peter’s. He at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_325"></a>[325]</span> -once accosted me in Flemish; and, when I had replied, he upbraided -me with having forgotten my mother tongue, for I mixed -up with it, he said, some German words. The reproach was -well founded: for I had passed about three years in the German -College, where I had learned a little German, and had had meanwhile -no occasion to speak Flemish. Such a reproof from an -Italian, who thus gave lessons in Flemish to a Fleming, struck -me as exceeding droll, and amused me not a little. This anecdote -shows what minute attention the learned Cardinal paid to -the boundary lines of kindred tongues.</p> - -<p>I have heard Mezzofanti, in the course of one evening, speaking -Italian, English, German, Flemish, Russian, French, and the -Sicilian and Neapolitan dialects of Italian.”<a id="FNanchor_454" href="#Footnote_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>This poverty of his Flemish vocabulary, however, disappeared -with practice. Another learned Belgian ecclesiastic, -Monsignor Aerts, who subsequently to the -sojourn of M. Malou in Rome, resided there for many -years, as Rector of the Belgian College, reports as follows -of Mezzofanti’s Flemish, such as he found it in -1837 and the following year.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I was intimately acquainted with Cardinal Mezzofanti, during -my sojourn in Rome; that is to say, from 1837 to the moment -of his death. I saw him frequently. After the establishment -in Rome of the Belgian Ecclesiastical College, of which I was -the first President, and he the Patron, I had still more frequent -relations with his eminence. I spoke to him several times in each -month. Part of our conversation always took place in Flemish. -I can assure you that he never had to look for a word, and that -he spoke our language most freely, and with a purity of expression -and pronunciation not always to be met with among our own -countrymen. One day that I was admitted along with the Cardinal, -to an audience of the Pope Gregory XVI., during his hour<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_326"></a>[326]</span> -of recreation, His Holiness expressed a desire to hear him speaking -Flemish with me. We then began a little discussion about -the relative difficulty of German and Flemish. His Eminence -thought Flemish the harder of the two. The Pope called him ‘a -living Pentecost.’ He also wrote Flemish poetry: and one day -he gave me several verses of his own composition, to send in -token of remembrance to a young gentleman from Bruges whom -he had confirmed at Rome. Mezzofanti not only knew -the language itself thoroughly, but he was moreover acquainted -with its history and with the principal Flemish and Dutch authors. -I heard him speak of the works of Vondel, Cats, David, &c. He -spoke and pronounced Dutch equally well. He said, however, -that, the modern Hollanders had changed the language by approximating -to the German. He knew, also, some of the local dialects -of Flemish, especially that of Brussels. He could even distinguish -the inhabitants of Brussels by their accent, of which I have -more than once been witness. When he saw a Fleming, he always -saluted him in his own tongue; as he indeed did with -all foreigners.</p> - -<p>In 1838, Cardinal Sterckx, Archbishop of Malines, paid a visit -to Rome, and I had the honour of being present during several -conversations which he held in Flemish with Cardinal Mezzofanti. -The latter once took a fancy to have a little Flemish -conversation with his colleague, in a consistory which the Pope -held at this time: and he himself playfully remarked that probably -that was the first time, since the origin of the Church, that -two cardinals had talked Flemish in a papal consistory. -Cardinal Sterckx told me this anecdote the same day.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The complete success with which he overcame the -deficiency that M. Malou had observed in 1831, and -the curious mastery of the various dialects which his -singularly exquisite perception of the minutest peculiarities -of language enabled him to acquire, are attested -by another witness of the same period, Father -Van Calven of the same city.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_327"></a>[327]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“On the 6th February, 1841,” he writes, “the Cardinal, who was no -less kind and affable than learned, administered the first communion -to my cousin, Leo van Oockerout, who was then with his friends -in Rome. Being a Belgian, a friend, and a relative, I was invited -to be present at the ceremony, which took place in the -Church of S. Peter, over the tomb of SS. Peter and Paul. -Cardinal Mezzofanti celebrated the Holy Sacrifice; and after the -Gospel, or perhaps immediately before the child’s communion, he -made a little discourse in French, in reference to the beautiful occasion -which had drawn us together. This little discourse, which -was very simple, was in excellent French. After the ceremony -was over, he called us all into the sacristy, and there we had a -conversation in Flemish. His eminence distinguished the different -dialects of our Belgian provinces perfectly. Thus I remember -distinctly that he said to us: ‘I learned Flemish from -a native of Brabant, and this is the way I pronounce the word; -but, you from Flanders, pronounce it thus.’—I forget what -was the word about which there was question; but at any rate, -the Cardinal was quite correct in his observation.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The same curiously delicate power of “discriminating -the various dialects of the language, and of -distinguishing by their accents, the inhabitants of the -various provinces of Belgium,” are attested by -another member of the same society, Father Legrelle. -On the eve of this gentleman’s return to Belgium, he -asked the Cardinal to be so good as to write his -name in his <i>Album de Voyage</i>. On the very instant, -and in F. Legrelle’s presence, his Eminence penned -these Flemish verses, which he gave to M. Legrelle -as a souvenir:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">God wept, en wyst den weg tot de volkomenheid;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hoort zyne stem, myn Vriend, de stemme der waerheid.<a id="FNanchor_455" href="#Footnote_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_328"></a>[328]</span></p> - -<p>One of M. Legrelle’s companions, M. Leon Wilde, -a native of Holland, and now a member of the Jesuit -Society at Katwick, bears the same testimony to the -facility and elegance with which the Cardinal spoke -Dutch. M. Wilde also mentions his having written -some verses in that language. But a “Tour to Rome”<a id="FNanchor_456" href="#Footnote_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> -by a Dutch professor, Dr. Wap, published at Breda, in -1839, contains so full and so interesting a notice of the -great linguist, in reference to this department of his -accomplishment, that, without referring further to -M. Wilde’s letter, I shall content myself with translating -the most important passages of Dr. Wap’s -account of his visit. The author, then a professor in -the military college of Breda, is now resident at Utrecht.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Joseph Mezzofanti,” he writes, “is at present<a id="FNanchor_457" href="#Footnote_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a> in his sixty-fifth -year. He is of a slight figure, pale complexion, black hair which -is beginning to turn gray, a piercing eye, quick utterance, -and an air full of good humour, but not very intellectual, so that -one would hardly expect to discover faculties so extraordinary -under such an exterior. The first time I saw him was in the -Vatican library, in the large hall which is furnished with tables, -for the accommodation of those who wish to read or to take notes. -He was busy distributing books, and at the same time was talking -to an English lady accompanied by some English gentlemen. -I afterwards spent an hour or two with this family, and learned -that Mezzofanti had written in the lady’s album four very graceful -English lines, regarding America, whence she had come, and -Vienna, where she was going to reside. As soon as the librarian -noticed any foreigner, he at once began a conversation with him, -and carried it on, no matter what might be the stranger’s idiom. -Prince Michael of Russia was amazed at the ease and volubility -with which Mezzofanti spoke the Polish language. He accosted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_329"></a>[329]</span> -me in English, which has in some measure become indigenous to -Rome: but, finding I was from Holland, he at once continued -the conversation in the <i>Brussels</i> dialect (as he called it,) and told -me how scanty the means were of which he had been able to avail -himself in the study of Flemish. These were: a Flemish grammar; -two authors, (Bolhuis and Ten Kate,) with whom he was -acquainted; and finally, Vondel and Cats, whom he had carefully -read. He had never seen any of Bilderdyk’s works, and -he inquired whether this scholar had not introduced a dialect into -the Dutch language. When I had given him the necessary information, -and told him that Bilderdyk, besides a hundred other -works, had written a book on the characters of the Alphabet, -another on the Gender of Substantives, and three volumes on -their roots, his delight was extreme, and he expressed a great -desire to possess these works. I undertook to send them to him, -and I took care to redeem my promise, as soon as I returned -home.<a id="FNanchor_458" href="#Footnote_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a> After this interview, I did not presume to manifest my -earnest desire for any further interviews with him: but -Mezzofanti anticipated my wishes, and invited me to come -and see him at the Propaganda, as often as I liked. There it is -that he spends some hours, every evening, among the students, -talking with each in his own tongue. I took advantage of his kind -proposal, and had thus an opportunity of getting a nearer view -of this college of the Propaganda....</p> - -<p>Nowhere will one find so many resources for amassing treasures -of knowledge united together, as in the vast college of the Propaganda....</p> - -<p>Here are assembled a hundred and fourteen students from -forty-one different countries. At my request, the Rector caused -the Pater Noster to be written by sixteen foreign students in -their respective languages. Here, in the evening, in the midst -of these various nations, I met Mezzofanti, who seemed to belong -to each of them. He spoke Chinese with Leang of Canton, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_330"></a>[330]</span> -easily as he spoke Dutch with Mr. Steenhof<a id="FNanchor_459" href="#Footnote_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a> of Utrecht. I will -never forget the instructive hours which I spent there. The natural -frankness of Mezzofanti, his free and communicative conversation, -his easy tone, his gay disposition, all rendered my farewell -visit, which I twice repeated, very painful to me.</p> - -<p>Amidst so many grave employments, Mezzofanti goes twice -each week to the house of the orphans, to teach them the catechism, -and to the barracks of the Swiss soldiers to instruct them -in the principles of religion. The library requires his care twice -in the week, for several hours in the morning; in the afternoon -he gives lessons to the pupils of the Propaganda, whose studies -he superintends; to his care are confided the public discourses -delivered on the Epiphany: almost all foreigners come to visit -him; in fine, he pays his visits in his humble equipage, and attends -at the Pope’s court when pressing affairs requires his -presence; and, notwithstanding many duties and occupations, -he still finds time to assist at the divine offices. Who will not -feel profound respect and sincere admiration for such a man?</p> - -<p>I will here subjoin some lines which I wrote <i>extempore</i> in -Mezzofanti’s album, together with his immediate reply.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Wie ooit de Pinkstergaaf in twijfel durfde trekken.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sta hier beschaamd, verplet voor Mezzofanti’s geest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hij eere in hem den man, die de aard ten tolk kan strekken.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wiens brien in ’t taalgeheim van alle volken leest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aanvaard, ô Telg van’t Zuid, den eerbiedgroet van’t Noorden,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Maar denk, terwijl nu oog mijn nietig schrift beziet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Al mist der Batten spraak Italjes zang akkoorden,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hun tongval of hun ziel leent zich tot vleijen niet.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">My veritable impromptu instantly called forth this beautiful -answer from Mezzofanti:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Mynheer! als uw fraaj schrift kwam heden voor mijne oogen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Door Uw’ goedaardigheid was ikheel opgetogen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">En zooveel in mijn geest zooveel in’t hart opklom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dat mijne tong verbleef med vijftig taalen stom.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_331"></a>[331]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Nu, opdat ik niet schijn U een ondankbaar wezen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bid ik U in mijn hart alleen te willen lezen.<a id="FNanchor_460" href="#Footnote_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="right">Joseph Mezzofanti.</p> - -<p><i>Rome, den 17 April, 1837.</i>’</p> - -<p>After writing these lines, he asked me if there were any mistakes -in them, and, if so, if I would be good enough to point them -out to him. I then noticed the word <i>fraaj</i> in the first line, knowing -he would reply that the letter <i>i</i> at the end of a word should -be replaced by a <i>j</i>. The <i>aa</i> in <i>taalen</i>, in the fourth line, he justified -by a reference to the Flemish grammar which he used at the time. -As for the <i>d</i> in the preposition <i>med</i>, which occurs in the same -line, he contended that this was the proper orthography of the -word, as it was an abbreviation of <i>mede</i>. I would have been -greatly surprised at all this, if I had not previously had occasion -to admire the delicate ear which this giant of linguistic -learning possessed for the subtleties of pronunciation, and the -wonderful perspicacity of his orthographical system: especially -as he had expressed to me his just disapprobation of the foreign -words which some of our countrymen are letting slip into their conversation. -He had already given proof to another traveller from -Holland that he was perfectly acquainted with the difference -between the words <i>nimmer</i> and <i>nooit</i>, so that he hardly ever used -one for the other.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_332"></a>[332]</span></p> - -<p>Side by side with the Dutch traveller’s sketch, may -be placed a still more lively account of Mezzofanti -by another visitor of the Vatican, the poet Frankl, -a Bohemian by birth, but chiefly known by his German -writings. This sketch, besides the allusion to -Mezzofanti’s skill in the poet’s native language, -Bohemian, contains a slight, but not uninteresting -specimen of Mezzofanti’s German vocabulary, and, -moreover, illustrates very curiously the attention -which he seems always to have given to the general -principles of harmony, and his acquaintance with -the metrical capabilities of more than one ancient -and modern language. The Signor Luzatto, to whose -introductory letter Frankl refers, was a friend of -Mezzofanti—a distinguished Italian Jew—himself an -accomplished linguist, and well known to oriental -scholars by his contributions to the <i>Archives Israelites</i>, -and by a work on the Babylonian Inscriptions.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Having furnished myself,” writes Herr Frankl, “with a -letter of introduction from Luzatto of Padua, I went to the Vatican -Library, of which Mezzofanti was the head. His arrival -was looked for every moment; and I occupied the interval by -examining the long, well lighted gallery of antiquities which is -outside, and which also leads into the halls that contain the -masterpieces of ancient art in marble. I was in the act of reading -the inscription upon one of the many marble slabs which are -inserted in the wall, when a stranger who, except myself, was -the sole occupant of the gallery, said to me; ‘Here comes Monsignor -Mezzofanti!’</p> - -<p>An undersized man, somewhat disposed towards corpulency, -in a violet cassock falling to the ancle, and a white surplice -which reached to the knee, came briskly, almost hurriedly, towards -us. He carried his four-cornered violet cap in his hand, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_333"></a>[333]</span> -thus I was better able to note his lively, though not striking -features, and his grey hair still mingled with black. About his -lips played a smile, which I afterwards observed to be their -habitual expression. He appeared to be not far from sixty. -When he came sufficiently near, I advanced to meet him with a -silent bow, and he at once received me with the greeting in -German, ‘<i>Seyn Sie mir willkommen!</i>’ (‘You are welcome.’)</p> - -<p>‘I am surprised, Monsignor,’ I replied, ‘that you address me -in German, although I have not spoken a word as yet.’ ‘Oh,’ -said he, ‘a great many foreigners of all countries come to visit -me, and I have acquired a certain routine—pardon me, I should -have said a certain ‘knack,’ (die Routine—verzeihen sie, ‘die -gewandtheit’ sollte ich sagen,—) of discovering their nationality -from their physiognomy, or rather from their features.’</p> - -<p>‘I am sorry, Monsignor,’ I replied, ‘that it is my ill fortune -to belie this knack of yours. I am a native of Bohemia, although -not of Bohemian race, and Bohemian is my mother tongue.’</p> - -<p>‘To what nationality, then, do you belong?’ asked Mezzofanti -in Bohemian, without a moment’s hesitation.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>He afterwards changed the language to Hebrew.</p> - -<p>Frankl adds, that on a second visit to the reading -room of the Vatican, he found the gay animated -Monsignor in the ordinary black dress of a priest; -and took this opportunity to present him a copy of his -“Colombo,” in which he had written the inscription, -“<i>Dem Sprachen-chamæleon Mezzofanti.</i>” (“To -Mezzofanti, the Chameleon of language”.)</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“‘Ha,’ said Mezzofanti, with a smile, ‘I have had numberless -compliments paid me; but this is a spick and span new one,’ -(funkelnagel-neu.)</p> - -<p>Upon this word he laid a special emphasis, as if to call my -attention to his well known familiarity with unusual words.</p> - -<p>‘I see,’ he continued, ‘you have adopted the Italian form of -cantos and stanzas.’</p> - -<p>‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘the Germans nowadays, for the most -part, do homage to the Italian forms.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_334"></a>[334]</span></p> - -<p>‘At last!’ said he, with a smile not unmixed with triumph.</p> - -<p>‘Schlegel, Bürger, and Platen,’ I said, ‘have written sonnets -quite as harmonious as Petrarch’s, and Tasso’s stanza has found -its rival among the Germans.’</p> - -<p>‘Well, at all events,’ replied Mezzofanti, ‘the Germans have -not succeeded in hexameters. Klopstock’s are incorrect and inharmonious. -What harmony is there in the line:—</p> - -<p>‘Sing, unsterbliche Seele, des sündigen Menschen Erlösung!’ -Where is the cæsura—speaking to you, I should say, <i>abschnitt</i>—in -this line? Voss, it is true, wrote correctly; and yet an Italian -will hang down his chin whenever Voss’s hexameters are read. -As for Goethe, what sort of poetry is his? You know his elegies—for -example, the hexameter which ends</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">——‘blaustrumpf und violet strumpf!’<a id="FNanchor_461" href="#Footnote_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Surely he must have taken the Germans for a hard-hearted -nation!’</p> - -<p>I quoted for him the burlesque couplet which was composed in -ridicule of Schiller’s and Goethe’s distichs.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘In Weimar und Jenam acht man Hexameter wie den,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Und die Pentameter sind noch erbärmlicher.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">He repeated it at once after me, and seemed to wish to impress it -on his mind.</p> - -<p>‘Do you know,’ he pursued, ‘what language I place before all -others, next to Greek and Italian, for constructive capability and -rhythmical harmoniousness?—The Hungarian. I know some -pieces of the later poets of Hungary, the melody of which -took me completely by surprise. Mark its future history, and you -will see in it a sudden outburst of poetic genius, which will fully<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_335"></a>[335]</span> -confirm my prediction. The Hungarians themselves do not -seem to be aware what a treasure they have in their language.’<a id="FNanchor_462" href="#Footnote_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a></p> - -<p>‘It would be in the highest degree interesting,’ said I, ‘if you -would draw up a comparative sketch of the metrical capabilities -of all the various languages that you speak. Who is there that -could speak on the subject with more authority?’</p> - -<p>He received my suggestion with a smile, but made no reply. -He seems, indeed, to content himself with the glory of being -handed down to posterity as the Crœsus of languages, without -leaving to them the slightest permanent fruit of his immense -treasures of science.”<a id="FNanchor_463" href="#Footnote_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>Among these less commonly cultivated languages, -I may also class Maltese. In this Mezzofanti was -equally at home. As Maltese can scarcely be said -to possess anything like a literature,<a id="FNanchor_464" href="#Footnote_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> it may be -presumed that he acquired it chiefly by oral instruction, -partly from occasional visitors to Rome, partly -from some Maltese servants who were in the Propaganda -at the time of his arrival. This much at least -is certain, that, in the year 1840, he spoke the language -freely and familiarly. Father Andrew Schembri, -of La Valetta, during a residence in Rome in that -year, having conducted the preparatory spiritual exercises -for a number of youths to whom the Cardinal administered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_336"></a>[336]</span> -the first communion in the church of San -Vito, met his Eminence at breakfast in the convent -attached to this church. No sooner was Father -Schembri presented to him as a Maltese, than he entered -into conversation with him in his own language.<a id="FNanchor_465" href="#Footnote_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> -Another Maltese ecclesiastic, Canon Falzou of the -cathedral, met the Cardinal in Rome at a later date, -in 1845-6. In the course of his sojourn he “had -frequent opportunities, for a period of eleven months, -of conversing with him in Maltese, which he spoke -very well.”<a id="FNanchor_466" href="#Footnote_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a></p> - -<p>I need scarcely observe that, although in the capital -and the principal towns of Malta, the prevailing language -is Italian, the dialect spoken by the rural -population contains a large admixture of foreign -elements, chiefly Arabic and Greek. To what a -degree the former language enters into the composition -of Maltese, may be inferred from the well-known -literary imposture of Vella, who attempted to pass -off a forgery of his own as an Arabic history of -Sicily under the Arabs.<a id="FNanchor_467" href="#Footnote_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a></p> - -<p>Before closing this chapter, I shall add a short note -of the Count de Lavradio, Portuguese ambassador in -London, and brother of the Marquis de Lavradio, -who for many years held the same office in Rome. -It regards Mezzofanti’s acquaintance with Portuguese, -another language which very few foreigners take the -trouble to acquire.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_337"></a>[337]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I have always heard,” writes his excellency, “both from -my brother and from other learned Portuguese who knew Cardinal -Mezzofanti, that he was perfectly conversant with the Portuguese -language, and that he spoke it with facility and with elegance. -I myself have read letters written by him in excellent Portuguese; -particularly one very remarkable one, addressed by him to the -learned M. de Souza, for the purpose of conveying his thanks -for the offer which M. de Souza had made to him, of a copy of -the magnificent edition of Camoens, which he had published in -1817.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The Marquis de Lavradio here referred to, while -ambassador at Rome, expressed the same opinion to -Cardinal Wiseman. The Marquis, in Mezzofanti’s -Portuguese, was particularly struck by the precision -of his language and the completeness of his mastery -over even the delicate forms of conversational -phraseology. He instanced in particular one of his -letters. It was perfect, he said, not only in vocabulary -but in form, even down to the minutest phrases -of conventional compliment and formal courtesy.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_338"></a>[338]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1834-1836.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>I resume the narrative.</p> - -<p>The Librarian of the Vatican, or as he is more -properly called the “Librarian of the Roman Church,” -(<i>Bibliotecario della Chiesa Romana</i>,) is always a -Cardinal, commonly the Cardinal Secretary of State. -His duties as such, however, are in great measure -nominal; and the details of the management practically -rest with the <i>Primo Custode</i>, or chief keeper of -the Library, who is assisted by a second keeper, and -seven <i>scrittori</i>, or secretaries, among whom are distributed -the seven departments,—Hebrew, Syriac, -Arabic, Greek, Latin, Italian, and modern foreign -languages—into which the books are classified.</p> - -<p>The Cardinal Librarian at the time of Mezzofanti’s -appointment was Cardinal Della Somaglia, who had -been Secretary of State under the Popes Leo XII. -and Pius VIII.; and who, although, owing to his great -age, he had retired from the more active office of -Secretary, still retained that of Librarian of the Vatican. -Mezzofanti’s colleague as <i>Secondo Custode</i>, -was Monsignor Andrea Molza, an orientalist of high<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_339"></a>[339]</span> -reputation, and Professor of Hebrew in the Roman -University.</p> - -<p>Attached to the Basilica of St. Peter’s, and subject -to the chapter of that church, is a college for the education -of ecclesiastics, (popularly called <i>Pietrini</i>,) -whose striking and picturesque costume seldom fails to -attract the notice of strangers. The Rector of this -college is always a member of the chapter, and is -elected by the canons themselves from among their -number. Immediately upon his nomination by the -Pope as member of the chapter, Mezzofanti was appointed -by his brother canons to the office of Rector -of this college, which he continued to hold till his elevation -to the Cardinalate. The office is in great -part honorary; and Mezzofanti, in addition to his -gratuitous services, devoted a considerable part of -his income from other sources to the improvement of -the establishment, and especially to the support of -many meritorious students, whose limited means -would have excluded them from its advantages but -for his disinterested generosity.</p> - -<p>He was also named Consulter of the Sacred Congregation -for the correction of oriental books, and a -censor of the academy.</p> - -<p>It need hardly be said that, from the moment of his -arrival in Rome, he had been received with warm and -ready welcome in every scientific and literary circle. -With Monsignor Mai, both during his residence at the -Vatican and after his removal to the Propaganda, he -was on terms of most friendly intercourse, and the -confidant of many of his literary undertakings. The -most distinguished professors of the several schools<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_340"></a>[340]</span> -of Rome, Graziosi, Fornari, Modena, De Vico, Perrone, -Palma, Manera, De Luca, vied with each other in -doing him honour. He was elected into all the leading -literary societies and academies of the city; and -soon after his appointment as Vatican Librarian, he -read in the “Academy of the Catholic Religion,” a -paper which attracted much notice at the time: “On -the Services of the Church in promoting the Diffusion -of True Knowledge, and the Development of the -Human Mind.”</p> - -<p>The Pope, Gregory XVI., himself, a great lover of -oriental studies, received him into his most cordial -intimacy. In the one brief hour of recreation which -this great and zealous pontiff, who retained even in -the Vatican the spirit and the observances of the -cloister, allowed himself after dinner, Mezzofanti was -his frequent companion. The privilege of entrée was -open to him at all times; but it was specially understood -that at this more private and informal hour, when -the Pope loved to see his most cherished friends -around him, Mezzofanti should present himself at -least once every week.</p> - -<p>In like manner his early friend, Giustiniani, also -an accomplished oriental scholar, lost no time, on -Mezzofanti’s coming to Rome, in resuming with -him the intimate friendship which they had contracted -during his Eminence’s residence at Bologna, as -Cardinal Legate. Mezzofanti used to spend every -Wednesday evening with Cardinal Giustiniani; and -on one occasion, when Dr. Wiseman called at the -Cardinal’s, he found them reading Arabic together. -He met with equal kindness from the Cardinal Secretary, -Bernetti, and from Cardinal Albani, who had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_341"></a>[341]</span> -both known him at Bologna. The venerable old -Cardinal Pacca, too, took especial delight in his company. -He was a constant guest at the literary assemblies -in the palace of Cardinal Zurla, known to -general readers as the historian of Marco Polo and -the early Venetian travellers.<a id="FNanchor_468" href="#Footnote_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a> On Pentecost Sunday, -1834, the anniversary of the Feast of Tongues, -the Cardinal gave a dinner in honour of the great -Polyglot, at which many foreigners (one of whom -was the present Cardinal Wiseman) speaking a great -variety of languages, and all the most distinguished -linguists of Rome, were present. Each of -the guests carried away a feeling of wonder, almost -as though his own language had been the only -subject of Mezzofanti’s extraordinary display. Signor -Drach, the learned Jew, named in a former page,<a id="FNanchor_469" href="#Footnote_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> declared -that he had not thought it possible for any but a -born Hebrew to speak both Scriptural and Rabbinical -Hebrew with the fluency and correctness which -Mezzofanti was able to command. A Polish priest -named Ozarowski,<a id="FNanchor_470" href="#Footnote_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a> who sat next to Mezzofanti, assured -the late Dr. Cox, of Southampton, that, had he -not known Mezzofanti personally, he would, from his -conversation, have believed him to be a highly educated -Pole; and he added that, “foreigner as this great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_342"></a>[342]</span> -linguist was, his familiarity with Polish literature and -history completely threw his own into the shade.” -Nor was this extraordinary faculty confined to the -literature and language alone. A Polish lady was so -astonished, not only at his knowledge of the language, -but at his “acquaintance with the country, and even -with individuals, (for many of whom he inquired by -name, describing where they lived, what was their -occupation, &c.,”) that, as she assured Cardinal Wiseman, -she “could not believe that he had not resided, -or at least travelled, in Poland.”</p> - -<p class="tb">The exact number of languages to which this -extraordinary facility extended, had long been a matter -of speculation. Mezzofanti himself—averse to everything -that bore the appearance of display—although -repeatedly questioned on the subject, generally evaded -the inquiry, or passed it off with a jesting answer. It -is probable too, that he was deterred from any enumeration -by the difficulty of distinguishing between -languages properly so-called, and dialects. The -first distinct statement of his own, bearing directly -upon the point, which I have been able to trace on -good authority to himself, was made soon after his -appointment as Vatican Librarian, in an interview -with a gentleman of Italian family, long resident in -England, who was introduced to him by Dr. Cox, at -that time vice-rector of the English College. The -particulars of the interview were communicated to me -by Dr. Cox himself, in a letter which I received from -him a very short time before his death. The gentleman -referred to was Count Mazzinghi, the well<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_343"></a>[343]</span> -known composer, who, if not born in England, had -resided in London for so long a time, that in language, -habits, and associations, he was a thorough -Englishman.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“On one occasion,” says Dr. Cox, “when going to the Vatican -Library to visit Mezzofanti, I took with me an English family, -who were most desirous of being introduced to him. Mezzofanti -remonstrated good-humouredly with me for bringing people to -see him, as if he were worthy of being visited, but he received -our party with his habitual politeness.</p> - -<p>The gentleman whom I introduced, begged as a favour that -he would tell him how many languages he could speak. ‘I have -heard many different accounts,’ he said, ‘but will you tell me -yourself?’</p> - -<p>After some hesitation, Mezzofanti answered, ‘Well! if you -must know, I speak forty-five languages.’</p> - -<p>‘Forty-five!’ replied my friend. ‘How, sir, have you possibly -contrived to acquire so many?’</p> - -<p>‘I cannot explain it,’ said Mezzofanti. ‘Of course God has given -me this peculiar power: but if you wish to know how I preserve -these languages, I can only say, that, when once I hear the -meaning of a word in any language, I never forget it.’</p> - -<p>He then begged us to excuse him, and called one of the librarians -to show us the principal curiosities of the library. On our -return, we found him seated with a young German artist, who, -he told us, was going to Constantinople. ‘I am teaching him -Turkish before he goes,’ he continued, ‘and as he speaks modern -Greek very well, I use that language as the means of my instruction. -I had the honour,’ he subjoined, ‘of giving some lessons on -modern Greek to your poet, Lord Byron, when he was in -Bologna.’</p> - -<p>“I should add,” said Dr. Cox “that I frequently heard him -speak of Byron, and that his criticisms upon his works, and his -reflections on the peculiar characteristics of his poetry, would -have been worthy of a place in a Review.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>While he thus professed, however, to speak forty-five<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_344"></a>[344]</span> -languages, he took care, as in his similar conversation -with Dr. Tholuck, to convey that his knowledge -of some of them was much less perfect than of others.</p> - -<p>Nor did it remain stationary at this limit. Its -progress, even while he resided at Bologna, had been -steady, and tolerably uniform. But the increased -facilities for the study which he enjoyed in Rome, -enabled him to add more rapidly to his store. Cardinal -Wiseman assures me, that, before he left Rome, -Mezzofanti’s reply to the inquiry as to the number -of his languages, was that which has since become a -sort of proverb, “Fifty, and Bolognese.” Even as -early as 1837, Mezzofanti himself, in his extempore -reply to Dr. Wap’s Dutch verses, as we have seen, -used words to the same effect:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Mijne tong verbleef med <i>vijftig taalen</i> stom,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I have been anxious to obtain, on this interesting -point, an authentic report from persons who enjoyed -almost daily opportunities of intercourse with Mezzofanti -at this period, for the purpose of testing more -satisfactorily, the accuracy of a contemporary sketch -of him, which appeared in a work of considerable -pretensions, published in Germany, in 1837—Fleck’s -“Scientific Tour,”—which describes him, from popular -report, as speaking “some thirty languages and -dialects, but of course, not all with equal readiness.” -As M. Fleck is in many things, an echo of the supercilious -criticisms of those who, while they admitted -in general terms the marvellous character of Mezzofanti’s -talent, contrived, nevertheless, to depreciate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_345"></a>[345]</span> -it in detail, it may be well to afford the reader an -opportunity of judging it for himself.<a id="FNanchor_471" href="#Footnote_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Of middle size and somewhat stooping in his gait,” writes -M. Fleck, “Mezzofanti’s appearance is nevertheless agreeable -and benevolent. Since he has been Prefect of the Vatican in -Mai’s stead, I have had occasion to see him daily. His talent -is that of a linguist, not that of a philologist. One forenoon in -the Vatican, he spoke modern Greek to a young man who came -in, Hebrew with a rabbi or ‘scrittore’ of the library, Russian -with a magnate who passed through to the manuscript rooms, -Latin and German with me, Danish with a young Danish archæologist -who was present, English with the English,—Italian -with many. German he speaks well, but almost too softly, like -a Hamburgher; Latin he does not speak particularly well, and -his English is just as middling. There is something about him -that reminds me of a parrot—he does not seem to abound in -ideas; but his talent is the more deserving of admiration, that -the Italians have great difficulties to cope with in learning a foreign -language. He will always remain a wonderful phenomenon, -if not a miracle in the dogmatic sense. It is said to have been -observed, that he often repeats the same ideas in conversation. -He was entirely dependant on Mai in his position in the Vatican, -especially at the commencement of his tenure of office, and manifested -some weakness in this respect. He told me he had learned -Russian at Bologna from a Pole, and so had been in danger -of introducing Polonicisms into his Russian. In the French -wars, his visits to the hospitals gave him an excellent opportunity -of seeing and conversing with men of different nations, and -the march of the Austrians made him acquainted with the dialect -of the gipsies. Thrice, he told me, he has been dangerously ill, -and in a kind of ‘confusion of languages.’ He is altogether -a man of a sensitive nervous system, and much more decidedly -and more pusillanimously attached to Catholicism than Mai. -He has never travelled, except to Rome and Naples; and to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_346"></a>[346]</span> -Naples he went to study Chinese at the institute for the education -of natives of China as missionaries, and there he fell dangerously -ill. He seeks the society of foreigners very eagerly, in -order to converse with every one in his own language. As a special -favourite of the Pope, he enlivens his holiness’s after-dinner hours -(Verdaungs-stunden), and is often invited to him in the afternoon: -by his manifold acquirements and the winning urbanity of -his manners, he seems as if born for the society of a court. He -has made himself popular among the learned foreigners who -visit the Vatican, by permitting them to continue their labours -in the library during certain days after the beginning of the -holidays, on which the library had ordinarily been closed with a -view to the adjustment and supervision of the MSS. His predilection -for acquiring foreign idioms is so strong that he observes -and imitates the provincial dialects and accents. He has -carried this so far, that, for example, he can distinguish the Hamburgh -and Hanoverian German very well. Even of Wendish he is -not ignorant. This is, indeed, a gift of no very high order; but -it is a gift nevertheless, and, when exercised in its more dazzling -points of practice, sets one in amazement. Mezzofanti understands -this well. The Italians admire this distinguished and -unassuming man, as the eighth wonder of the world, and believe -his reputation to be not only European, but Asiatic and African -also. He is said to speak some thirty languages and dialects; -but of course not all with equal readiness. The Persian missionary, -Sebastiani, who, in Napoleon’s time, played an important -political part in Persia, was eagerly sought after by Mezzofanti -when in Rome, that he might learn modern Persian from him; -Sebastiani, however, showed himself disinclined to his society, -which pained Mezzofanti much. Mezzofanti has been called the -modern Mithridates, and thought very highly of altogether. In -an intellectual point of view, many learned men, even Italians, -are certainly above him: his reading appears at times shallow, -owing to its having been so scattered, and it has occurred that he -has often repeated the same thing to strangers; but his great and -peculiar linguistic talent, which seems as it were to spring from some -innate sense, cannot be denied; his good nature and politeness to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_347"></a>[347]</span> -the students who frequent the Vatican are very great; and I am -therefore unable to comprehend how Blume (Iter Italicum, 1. 153,) -can speak of the opposite experience of learned travellers during -his residence at Bologna.</p> - -<p>Mezzofanti is fond of perpetuating his memory in the albums -of his friends. He wrote in mine:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἔρχεται ἀνθρώποις λαθραίως ἔσχατον ἦμαρ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oἱ δὲ περὶ ζωῆς πολλὰ μονοῦσι μάτην.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Χριστέ, σὺ μὲν πάντων ἀρχὴ, σù δὲ καί τέλος ἐσσί;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἔν τε σὸι ἐιρήνη ἐστὶ καὶ ἡσυχίη.”<a id="FNanchor_472" href="#Footnote_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div></div> - -<p>I shall leave the greater part of these strictures, -from their very generality, to be judged by the facts -and statements actually recorded in these pages; -merely observing that on all questions which involve -the depth and accuracy of Mezzofanti’s knowledge -of particular subjects, those only are entitled to speak -with authority, who, like Bucheron, Libri, and others -elsewhere referred to, took the trouble to test it by -actual inquiry. It will be enough to say that, whenever -M. Fleck has ventured into details, his criticisms -are palpably unjust.</p> - -<p>For instance, even at Rome, with all its proverbial -fastidiousness, the singular beauty of Mezzofanti’s -Latin conversation which Fleck describes as “not -particularly good,” was freely and universally admitted; -and Bucheron, the Piedmontese professor who -came to Bologna prepossessed with the idea that -Mezzofanti’s Latin scholarship was meagre and superficial, -was obliged to confess, after a long and searching -conversation, that his acquaintance with the Latin -language and literature was as exact as it was comprehensive.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_348"></a>[348]</span></p> - -<p>In like manner M. Fleck takes upon him to pronounce -that Mezzofanti’s English was “just as middling” -as his Latin. Now I need hardly recall the -testimonies of Mr. Harford, Stewart Rose, Byron, -Lady Morgan, Lady Blessington, and every other -English traveller who conversed with him, as completely -refuting this depreciatory estimate. The truth is, -that most of the English and Irish visitors with -whom I have spoken, have agreed with me in considering -that, in his manner of speaking English, the -absence of all foreign peculiarities was so complete -as to render it difficult, in a short conversation, to -detect that he was a foreigner. “One day,” Cardinal -Wiseman relates, “Mezzofanti then a prelate, visited -me, and shortly after an Irish gentleman called -who had arrived that moment in Rome. I was -called out, and left them together for some time. -On my returning, Mezzofanti took leave. I asked -the other who he thought that gentleman was. He -replied, looking surprised at the question, ‘<i>An -English Priest</i>, I suppose.’”</p> - -<p>On another occasion, about the same period, the -late Dr. Baines, Vicar Apostolic of the Western district, -having been present at one of the polyglot exhibitions -in the Propaganda, and having there witnessed -the extraordinary versatility of Mezzofanti’s -powers, returned with him after the exhibition. “We -dined together,” said Dr. Baines, “and I entreated -him, having been in the tower of Babel all the morning, -to let us stick to English for the rest of the day. -Accordingly, we did stick to English, which he spoke<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_349"></a>[349]</span> -as fluently as we do, and with the same accuracy, -not only of grammar but of idiom. His only trip -was in saying, ‘That was before the time when I remember,’ -instead of ‘before my time.’ Once, too, I -thought him mistaken in the pronunciation of a -word. But when I returned to England, I found -that my way was either provincial or old-fashioned, -and that I was wrong and he was right.”<a id="FNanchor_473" href="#Footnote_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a></p> - -<p>Nor was this fluency in speaking English confined -to the ordinary topics of conversation, or to the more -common-place words of the language. His vocabulary -was as extensive and as various as it was select. -A curious example of this, not only as regards English -but also in reference to German, was told to me -by Cardinal Wiseman.</p> - -<p>One broiling day he and Mr. Monckton Milnes -were walking in company with Mezzofanti across -the scorching pavement of the Piazza SS. Apostoli. -They were speaking German at the time.</p> - -<p>“Well!” said Mr. Milnes, utterly overcome by the -heat and glare, “this is what you may call a—what -is the German,” he added, turning to Dr. Wiseman, -“for ‘<i>sweltering</i>?’”</p> - -<p>“‘<i>Schwülig</i>,’ of course,” suggested Mezzofanti, -without a moment’s pause!</p> - -<p>I have heard several similar anecdotes illustrating -the minuteness of his acquaintance with other languages; -and when it is remembered, that his stock of -words was in great measure drawn from books, and those -generally the classics of their respective languages, it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_350"></a>[350]</span> -need hardly be considered matter of surprise, that, -as, in English, Lady Morgan found “his turn of phrase -and peculiar selection of words to be those of the -“Spectator,” so other foreigners have been struck by -finding an Italian model his conversational style upon -the highest and most refined standards in their respective -literatures. One instance may suffice as a -specimen. Professor Carlson of the university of -Upsala, who was for a considerable time engaged -in the Vatican Library, in examining the papers of -Queen Christina, and was thus thrown for weeks into -constant communication with Mezzofanti, assured my -friend Mr. Wackerbarth of the same university, -that Mezzofanti spoke the language perfectly—“quite -like a native;” and that not only as regards the words, -but also as regards the accent and rhythm of the -language, which is very difficult. The Swedish and -Danish languages are very much alike, though differing -widely in accent and musical character. -The Professor declared, that Mezzofanti was perfectly -at home in both, as well as regards their affinities as -their differences. He added, that if there were any -fault to find with Mezzofanti’s speaking of Swedish, -it was <i>perhaps a trifle too grammatically accurate</i>: -if that can be considered as a fault. This may perhaps -be better understood when explained, that in -Swedish the difference between the spoken and written -language, is perhaps more than in most languages, -many words being inflected in the written, but not in -the spoken language. Thus the verb “kan,” (can,) is in -the plural, “kunna;” but in conversation the plural is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_351"></a>[351]</span> -“kan,” the same as the singular. Now, from the -anecdote already told regarding young Uttini,<a id="FNanchor_474" href="#Footnote_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> it -appears that Mezzofanti was almost entirely self-taught -in Swedish; and I infer from the catalogue -of his library that his course of Swedish reading -lay exclusively among the purest classics of that -language. I am informed by Mr. Wackerbarth, -that Count Oxenstjerna, son of the classical Swedish -translator of Milton and Dante, who conversed with -him at Rome, found him thoroughly familiar with -his father’s works,<a id="FNanchor_475" href="#Footnote_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a> and in general critically acquainted -with all the masters of Swedish style.</p> - -<p>Indeed there is hardly any circumstance connected -with this extraordinary gift more calculated to excite -wonder than the extent and accuracy of his -acquaintance with the various literatures of the -languages to which he had applied himself. The -fact is attested by so many witnesses that it is impossible -to doubt it. Numerous instances have been -already cited; but I cannot pass from this period of -his life without adding a few others, chiefly regarding -oriental languages, taken almost at random from -many independent testimonies which have been communicated -to me by persons who enjoyed his intimacy -during the early years of his residence at -Rome.</p> - -<p>In a commission for the revision of the liturgical<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_352"></a>[352]</span> -books of the Armenian rite appointed by Pope -Gregory XVI., he was associated with a native Armenian -scholar, Father Arsenius Angiarakian, Abbot -of the Monastery of St. Gregory the Illuminator. -This learned ecclesiastic, in a letter dated August 15, -1855, assures me that during the frequent opportunities -of observation which a literary inquiry of -such exceeding delicacy afforded, he was astonished -(<i>ho dovuto stupire</i>) at the profound knowledge of the -ancient language of Armenia, exhibited by his associate. -He adds that Mezzofanti “spoke the vulgar -Armenian with perfect freedom, and in all its dialects.” -Mgr. Hurmuz, the Armenian Archbishop of Sirace, -in a letter of May 24th, in the same year, attests that -Mezzofanti’s Armenian scholarship “was not confined -to the knowledge of the language, ancient and -modern; he also knew the history of the Armenian -nation, and of science and art among them, together -with their periods of progress and decay.”</p> - -<p>Father Arsenius frequently introduced oriental -visitors, especially Turks and Persians, to Mezzofanti. -Ahmed Fethi Pasha, with his Secretary, Sami Effendi, -was presented to him on his way to London in 1836. -After a long interview he declared to Father Arsenius, -that “Mezzofanti was not only perfectly at home in -the vocabulary, the structure, and the pronunciation, -both of Turkish and of Persian, but thoroughly -and profoundly versed (<i>possedeva per eccellenza</i>) in -both literatures—being master of the great classic -prose writers and poets of both, and their literary -history.” He received the same assurances as to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_353"></a>[353]</span> -both languages, at various times, from Redschid -Pasha, Ali Pasha, Fuad Effendi, and Shekib Effendi.</p> - -<p>A native Syrian whom M. Antoine d’Abbadie met -in Rome in 1839, assured him that “Mezzofanti’s -knowledge of Arabic and fluency in speaking it were -both equally admirable.”<a id="FNanchor_476" href="#Footnote_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a></p> - -<p>Speaking of the literature of Greece, Monsignor -Missir, the learned Greek Archbishop of Irenopolis who -has for many years resided at Rome, declares (in a letter -of May 21st, 1855,) his belief that “Mezzofanti was as -fully master of the ancient Greek, as he was of Latin -or Italian, and that there was scarce a Greek author, -ancient or modern, sacred or profane, whom he had -not read.” The abate Pietro Matranga,<a id="FNanchor_477" href="#Footnote_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a> a Greek of -Sicily, and professor of Greek in the Greek College of -St. Athanasius, confirms this impression to a great -extent. He states (August 17th, 1855) that “in -examining the students of the Greek College, (as was -his custom for many years) in the classical authors, -both the orators and the tragedians, Mezzofanti never -had occasion to take a book into his hands; being able -on the passage being indicated by the professor, to repeat -it from memory.”</p> - -<p>A Polish priest named Ozarowski, stated as much -for Polish literature to Dr. Cox.</p> - -<p>Nay, even in such an out-of-the-way literature as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_354"></a>[354]</span> -that of Sicily, the same abate Matranga assures me -that he was equally versed. “He delighted,” says the -abate, “in repeating from memory the poetry of the -Sicilian poet, Giovanni Meli,”<a id="FNanchor_478" href="#Footnote_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> a writer who although -of the highest fame among his countrymen, is hardly -known even by name outside of his native island.</p> - -<p>I cannot close, however, without saying that I -have not found any evidence of his having being -equally familiar with another exceedingly important -literature of the East—the ancient Syriac. Vague statements -I have heard in abundance; but no one to whom -I have had access could speak with certainty; and -Signor Matteo Schiahuan, professor of that language -in the Propaganda, considered him but moderately -versed therein, (<i>una mediocre cognizione</i>.) This will -appear the more difficult of explanation, as the Syriac -department of his catalogue is tolerably extensive, -and is abundantly supplied with at least the elementary -books of that language.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_355"></a>[355]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1836-1838.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>One evening about this time, Dr. Wiseman, meeting -Mezzofanti in the Piazza di Spagna, inquired where -he was going.</p> - -<p>“To the Propaganda,” he replied; “I have to -give a lesson there.”</p> - -<p>“In what language?” asked Dr. Wiseman.</p> - -<p>“In Californian,” said Mezzofanti. “I am teaching -it to the Californian youths whom we have there.”</p> - -<p>“Californian!” exclaimed his friend, “From whom -can you possibly have learned that out-of-the-way -tongue?”</p> - -<p>“<i>From themselves</i>,” replied Mezzofanti: “and now -I am teaching it to them grammatically.”</p> - -<p>This interesting anecdote illustrates another curious -phase of Mezzofanti’s marvellous faculty—the -manner in which he dealt with a language, not only -new to himself, but entirely unwritten, unsystematized, -and, in a word, destitute of all the ordinary -aids and appliances of study.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_356"></a>[356]</span></p> - -<p>Two native Californians, children of one of the -many Indian tribes of that peninsula, were sent to -Rome to be educated at the Propaganda. One of -these died not very long after his arrival; the other, -whose native name was Tac, and who exhibited much -more talent than his companion, lived in the Propaganda -for about three years, but eventually sunk under -the effects of the Roman climate, and perhaps, of the -confinement and unwonted habits of collegiate life. -To these youths, from the day of their arrival, Mezzofanti -attached himself with all the interest which a -new language always possessed for him.<a id="FNanchor_479" href="#Footnote_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a></p> - -<p>The Indians of the Californian peninsula are -broken up into several independent tribes, the principal -of which are three in number, the Picos, the -Waicuros, and the Laymones. Their languages are -as various as their subdivisions of race. In the days -of the Spanish missionaries, there could hardly be -found any two or three missions in which the same -dialect was spoken;<a id="FNanchor_480" href="#Footnote_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a> insomuch that the fathers of -these missions have never succeeded in doing for the -native language, what they have done for most of the -other languages of Northern and Central America—reducing -it to an intelligible grammatical system.<a id="FNanchor_481" href="#Footnote_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> -Upon Mezzofanti, therefore, in his intercourse with -these youths, devolved all the trouble of discovering -the grammatical structure of the Californian language, -and of reducing it to rules. It was a most curious -process. He began by making his pupils recite the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_357"></a>[357]</span> -Lord’s Prayer, until he picked up first the general -meaning, and afterwards the particular sounds, and -what may be called the rhythm of the language. The -next step was to ascertain and to classify the particles, -both affixes and suffixes; to distinguish verbs -from nouns, and substantives from adjectives; to -discover the principal inflexions of both. Having -once mastered the preliminaries, his power of generalising -seemed rather to be an instinct than an exercise -of the reasoning faculty. With him the knowledge -of words led, almost without an effort, to the power -of speaking.</p> - -<p>I have been assured by the Rev. James Doyle, who -was a student of the Propaganda at the time, and -who had frequent opportunities of witnessing Mezzofanti’s -conversation with these youths, that his -success was complete, at least so far as could be -judged from external appearance—from his fluency, -his facility of speech, and all the other outward indications -of familiarity.<a id="FNanchor_482" href="#Footnote_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a> Some time before the arrival -of these Californians, and soon after Mezzofanti’s -coming to Rome, Bishop Fenwick, of Cincinnati, had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_358"></a>[358]</span> -sent for education to the Propaganda two North -American Indians, youths of the Ottawa tribe, then -residing near Mackinaw, at the upper end of Lake -Michegan. The elder of these, named Augustine -Hamelin, was a half-breed, being the son of a French -father; the younger, whose Indian name was <i>Maccodobenesi</i>, -(“the Blackbird,”) was of pure Ottawa blood.<a id="FNanchor_483" href="#Footnote_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a> -Unhappily, as almost invariably happens in similar -circumstances, the Indian, although a youth of much -promise and very remarkable piety, pined away in -the College, and eventually died from the bursting of -a blood-vessel. Augustin Hamelin, the elder, spent -a considerable time in the Propaganda, where he studied -with great success, but in the end, being -seized with blood-spitting, the authorities of the College, -apprehensive of a recurrence of the same disease -which had befallen Maccodobenesi, judged it more -prudent to send him back to America. In consequence, -he rejoined his tribe in the year 1835, or -1836. Mrs. Jameson, who in her “Rambles among -the Red Men,” speaks of the Roman Catholic Ottawa -converts in general, as “in appearance, dress, intelligence, -industry, and general civilization, superior -to the converts of all other communions,” refers in -particular to “a well-looking young man, dressed in -European fashion and in black, of mixed blood, French -and Indian, who had been sent, when young, to be -educated at the Propaganda, and was lately come to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_359"></a>[359]</span> -settle as a teacher and interpreter among his people.”<a id="FNanchor_484" href="#Footnote_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a> -This youth, there can be no doubt, was Hamelin. -Having come soon afterwards to Washington, as one -of a deputation from his tribe to negociate a treaty with -the United States Government, he produced a great -sensation by his high education, his great general knowledge, -and especially his skill in languages; and on a -subsequent occasion, in 1840, Bishop O’Connor, of -Pittsburgh, who had known him in the Propaganda, -and to whom I am indebted for these particulars regarding -him, encountered him in Philadelphia, engaged -in a similar mission to the American Government.</p> - -<p>The well-known Indian philologer, M. du Ponceau, -met him about the same time, and speaks with much -praise of his intelligence and ability. It was from -Hamelin that M. du Ponceau obtained the information -regarding the Ottawa language which he has used -in the comparative vocabulary of Indian languages, -appended to his <i>Memoire sur le Systeme Grammaticale -des Langues Indiennes</i>.<a id="FNanchor_485" href="#Footnote_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a></p> - -<p>Whether Mezzofanti learned the Ottawa dialect from -these youths I have not positively ascertained. Indeed -it is difficult to say at what precise time he first directed -his attention to the Indian languages of North -America. He certainly knew something of them before -he left Bologna. He read for M. Libri, in 1830, a -book in one of the Indian languages. Prince Lewis -Lucian Bonaparte too, in a communication with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_360"></a>[360]</span> -which he has honoured me, mentions a conversation -with him at Bologna, in which he spoke of these -Indian languages, and alluded to one in particular in -which the letter <i>B</i> is wanting; “not,” as he explained -to the Prince, “on account of any peculiarity in the -genius of the language which excludes this sound, -but because the Indians of this tribe wear a heavy -ornament suspended by a ring from the under lip, -which by dragging the under lip downwards, and -thus preventing its contact with the upper, renders -it impossible for them to produce the sound of <i>B</i> or -any other labial.” It is probable therefore, that even -before he first met Hamelin and his companion, -Mezzofanti had already learnt something of these -Indian languages; and as, in his conversation with -Dr. Kip, some years later, the only languages which -he mentioned as known to him are the Chippewa, the -Delaware, and the Algonquin, it is most likely that it -was the first of these—a variety of which is spoken by -the Ottawas—that formed his medium of conversation -with these youths. On this point, Dr. O’Connor is -unable to speak from his own knowledge.</p> - -<p>The Indian language which he knew best, however, -was the Algonquin, the parent of a large progeny -of dialects; and this he learnt not from the -natives, but from Father Thavenet, of the congregation -of St. Sulpice, for many years a missionary -among that tribe, and perhaps more profoundly skilled -in their language<a id="FNanchor_486" href="#Footnote_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> than any European scholar -before his time. Of the Algonquin Mezzofanti became<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_361"></a>[361]</span> -completely master—a success which can only be appreciated -by those who understand the peculiar,<a id="FNanchor_487" href="#Footnote_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a> and -to a European entirely novel structure of these -languages.</p> - -<p class="tb">But whatever uncertainty may exist as to the -manner in which he acquired these particular languages, -there are many others with regard to which -it cannot be doubted that he turned most industriously -to account, during these years, the many resources -supplied by the Propaganda, and that to this -noble institution he was indebted for many of his -later acquisitions.</p> - -<p>It may perhaps be remembered, that, when Dr. -Tholuck saw him in 1830, and changed quite suddenly -to Arabic in the midst of a conversation in German, -although he replied in that language “without hesitation -and quite correctly,” yet he “spoke very slowly, -and, as it were, composing the words one with -another.” Now Dr. O’Connor informs me, that, from -the day of his first coming to the Propaganda, he “fastened -upon” an Egyptian student named Sciahuan, with -whom he conversed continually in Arabic; and that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_362"></a>[362]</span> -he also undertook (thus enjoying an opportunity of -practice in two languages at once,) to instruct in it -a young Maltese, likewise a student of the college. -With what success this twofold practice was attended -may be inferred from the fact, already recorded, that, -a few years later, when M. d’Abbadie was in Rome (in -1839,) he was told by a native Syrian that Mezzofanti’s -fluency, as well as his knowledge of Arabic, -were both admirable.<a id="FNanchor_488" href="#Footnote_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a></p> - -<p>Another language which Mezzofanti, in 1839, told -Dr. Tholuck he had studied, but in which Dr. Tholuck -had no means of trying him, was the Albanese. -The late M. Matranga mentioned that he also spoke -this language with some Albanian students who -were in the Propaganda, soon after his arrival in -Rome: but that, as they were from upper Albania, -and spoke a corrupt half Turkish dialect of Albanese, -he conversed but rarely with them. I may add, however, -that Signor Agostino Ricci who came to the -Propaganda in 1846, assured me, in a note written -two years since,<a id="FNanchor_489" href="#Footnote_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> that, between 1846, and the Cardinal’s -death in 1849, he had “repeatedly conversed -with him in Albanese, and that he spoke it very well.” -(<i>assai bene</i>.)</p> - -<p>For Armenian, Turkish, and Greek, the Propaganda -also supplied abundant resources. The students, -Hassun and Musabini—the first, it will be recollected, -whom Mezzofanti chanced to meet at his earliest visit—ever -afterwards continued his especial favourites -and friends. With the former he always spoke in Turkish,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_363"></a>[363]</span> -with the latter in Greek. A youth named Tigrani, -supplied him with practice in Armenian; but to -this language, which he enjoyed other opportunities -of cultivating, he seldom devoted much of the time -which he spent in the Propaganda. It was the same -for most of the European languages which he constantly -met outside. In the college, for the most -part, he confined himself to those which he had no -means of cultivating elsewhere.</p> - -<p>Without wearying the reader, however, with further -details, I shall transcribe (although it regards a -later period,) an interesting letter received from the -Rev. Charles Fernando, the missionary apostolic at the -Point of Galle in Ceylon, which enters briefly, but yet -very fully and distinctly, into the particulars of the -languages which Mezzofanti used to speak in the -Propaganda, during the writer’s residence there as a -student. M. Fernando is a native of Colombo in -the Island of Ceylon. He came to Rome early in -the year 1843, and remained until after the death of -Cardinal Mezzofanti.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“When I left Ceylon for Rome,” he writes, August 29, 1855, -“I knew but very little of the Cingalese language; a very small -vocabulary of domestic words, and a facility in reading in Cingalese -characters, without understanding the written language, -was the full stock of my knowledge when I reached the college -of the Propaganda. From such a master you might be disposed -to augur badly of the scholar. Still it was not so.</p> - -<p>A few days after my arrival in college, I was introduced to his -Eminence in his polyglot library and study room in the college -itself. Cardinal Mezzofanti knew nothing of the Cingalese<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_364"></a>[364]</span> -before I went to the Propaganda, yet in a few days he was -able to assist me to put together a short plain discourse for our -academical exhibition of the Epiphany.</p> - -<p>My own knowledge of the language, nevertheless, was not at -that time such as to warrant my saying that he knew the Cingalese, -or that he spoke it well. This, however, I can assert confidently, -that, after a few conversations with me, (I don’t recollect -having been with him above a dozen times for the purpose,) -he thoroughly entered into the nature and system of the Cingalese -language.</p> - -<p>Among the other languages of Hindostan, I can only speak -as to one. In my time there were no students who spoke the -Mahratta, Canarese, or Malayalim; but I heard him speak Hindostani -with a student who is now missionary apostolic in Agra, -where he was brought up, the Rev. William Keegan.</p> - -<p>The most remarkable characteristic of the Cardinal as a linguist -was his power of passing from one language to another -without the least effort. I recollect having often seen him speak -to a whole <i>Camerata</i> of the Propaganda students, addressing each -in his own language or dialect in rapid succession, and with such -ease, fluency, and spirit, and so much of the character and tone -of each language that it used to draw a burst of merry laughter -from the company; every one delighted to have heard his own -language spoken by the amiable Cardinal with its characteristic -precision. I may mention the names of many with whom the -Cardinal thus conversed; with Moses Ngau (who died in Pegu -not long ago) in the Peguan language; with Zaccaria Cohen in -Abyssinian; with Gabriel, another Abyssinian, in the Amariña -dialect; with Sciata, an Egyptian, in the Coptic; with Hollas in Armenian; -with Churi<a id="FNanchor_490" href="#Footnote_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a> in Arabic; with Barsciu in Syriac; with Abdo<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_365"></a>[365]</span> -in Arabico-maltese, (the Maltese speak a mixture of Arabic and -Italian); in Tamulic with Pedro Royapen, (of this, however, I am -not so sure); with Leang and Mong in Chinese; with Jakopski and -Arabagiski in Bulgarian; with Beriscia and Baddovani in Albanian. -With regard to Malay, Tibetan, and Mantchu, I cannot -bear witness, as there were no students who spoke those dialects -in my time. As for the European languages, I can assure -you that I heard the Cardinal speak a great variety, Polish, -Hungarian,<a id="FNanchor_491" href="#Footnote_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a> Rhetian, Swedish, Danish, German, Russian, &c.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The caution with which M. Fernando speaks on -the subject of Cingalese, as well as of the rest of the -Indian languages, makes his testimony in other respects -more valuable, inasmuch as I had frequently -heard it said in Rome that the Cardinal spoke “Hindostani -and all the dialects of India.” It needed, -however, but a moment’s recollection of the number -and variety of these dialects, (several of which till -very recently were almost unknown even by -name to Europeans,) to assure me that this was a -great exaggeration. I am inclined to think that his -knowledge of Indian languages lay entirely among -those which are derived from the Sanscrit. The -notion of Colebrook and the philologers of his time, -that all the languages of India are of Sanscrit origin, -is now commonly abandoned. It is found that the -languages of the Deccan have but little of the Sanscrit -element; and Mr. Caldwell, in his recent comparative<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_366"></a>[366]</span> -grammar of the South-Indian Languages,<a id="FNanchor_492" href="#Footnote_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> -has enumerated under the general designation of Dravidian, -nine un-Sanscritic languages of this region -of India, among which the best known are the Tamil, -Telugu, Canarese, and Malayalim. There seems -no reason to believe that Mezzofanti was familiarly -acquainted with any one of these four, or indeed with -any member of Dravidian family, unless the Guzarattee -can be included therein.</p> - -<p>M. Fernando’s hesitation regarding his knowledge -of Tamil, induced me to inquire of Rev. Dr. MacAuliffe, -lately a Missionary at Madras, who, after -spending several years in that Presidency, had -entered the Propaganda, and who knew the Cardinal -at the same time with M. Fernando. Dr. MacAuliffe -informs me, that his eminence did not know -Tamil. The Indian languages which he knew, according -to Dr. MacAuliffe, were Hindostani and Mahratta; -that he was acquainted with at least the first of these -there seems no possible doubt, both from M. Fernando’s -testimony, and from that of Count Lackersteen of Calcutta, -a native East Indian gentleman, who assures me<a id="FNanchor_493" href="#Footnote_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> -that he conversed with him in Hindostani, in 1843-4. -As to the Mahratta dialect, I have not (beyond Dr. -MacAuliffe’s assurance) been able to obtain any -direct information; but Mr. Eyoob, an Armenian merchant -of Calcutta, testifies to the Cardinal’s acquaintance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_367"></a>[367]</span> -with another Indian language—the Guzarattee. -Mr. Eyoob saw the Cardinal in the same year with Count -Lackersteen, and writes<a id="FNanchor_494" href="#Footnote_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a> that, when he was introduced -to his eminence as a native of Bombay, the -Cardinal at once addressed him in <i>Guzarattee</i>. Mr. -Eyoob adds, that the Cardinal also spoke with him in -Armenian and in Portuguese, in both of which languages -his accent, vocabulary, and grammatical accuracy, -were beyond all exception. Count Lackersteen’s -letter fully confirms so much of this statement -as regards Portuguese. The Count also spoke -with Mezzofanti in Persian: but, as he does not -profess to be a profound Persian scholar, his testimony -on this head is not of so much value.</p> - -<p>By far the most remarkable, however, of Mezzofanti’s -successes in the Propaganda was his acquisition -of Chinese. The difficulty of that language for -Europeans has long been proverbial,<a id="FNanchor_495" href="#Footnote_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a> and it argued -no ordinary courage in a scholar now on the verge -of his sixtieth year to enter regularly upon such a -study. His first progress at Naples, before he was -interrupted by the severe illness which there seized -him, has been already described. It was not for a -considerable time after his return, that he was enabled -to resume the attempt systematically. A wish<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_368"></a>[368]</span> -was expressed by the authorities of the Propaganda -that a select number of the students of the Naples college -should be sent to Rome for the completion of -their theological studies. Three young Chinese had -already visited the Propaganda while Mezzofanti was -still in Bologna, one of whom, named Pacifico Yu, offered -himself to the Cardinal Prefect, as a missionary -to the Corea, at a period when the attempt was almost -a certain road to martyrdom: but it was not -until the year 1835-6 that the design of adopting -a few of the Neapolitan students into the college of -the Propaganda was actually carried out. Don -Raffaelle Umpierres, for many years Procurator of the -mission at Macao, was soon afterwards appointed -their prefect and professor; and under his auspices -and with the assistance of the young Chinese, Mezzofanti -resumed the study with new energy. His -success is admitted on all hands to have been almost -unexampled. Certainly it has never been surpassed -by any European not resident in China. In the -year 1843, I was myself present while he conversed -with two youths, named Leang and Mong, and -although my evidence cannot extend beyond these external -signs, I can at least bear witness to the fluency -with which he spoke, and the ease and spirit with -which he seemed to sustain the conversation. But -his complete success is placed beyond all doubt by an -attestation forwarded to me, by the abate Umpierres, -the Chinese Professor,<a id="FNanchor_496" href="#Footnote_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> already named, who declares -that he “frequently conversed with the Cardinal in -Chinese, from the year 1837, up to the date of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_369"></a>[369]</span> -his death, and that he not only spoke the mandarin -Chinese,<a id="FNanchor_497" href="#Footnote_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a> but understood other dialects of the language.”</p> - -<p>Mezzofanti himself freely confessed the exceeding -difficulty which he had found in mastering this language. -It cost him, as he assured Father Arsenius -Angiarakian, four months of uninterrupted study. -Speaking once with Cardinal Wiseman of his method -of linguistic study, he said that the “ear and not the -eye was for him the ordinary medium through which -language was conveyed;” and he added, that the true -origin of the difficulty which he had felt in learning -Chinese, was not so much the novelty of its words and -forms, as the fact that, departing from the analogy -of other languages, it disconcerted the pre-arranged -system on which he had theretofore proceeded; it -<i>has an eye-language distinct from the ear-language</i>, -which he was obliged to make an especial study.</p> - -<p>It is worth while to mention that the Cardinal -successfully accomplished in a short time what cost -the missionaries in China, with all their advantages of -position, many years of labour, having actually -preached to the Chinese students in the Propaganda, -on occasion of one of the spiritual retreats which are -periodically observed in ecclesiastical seminaries.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_370"></a>[370]</span></p> - -<p>It must not be supposed, however, that the Propaganda -was his only school of languages. Not unfrequently, -also, missionaries from various parts of -the world, who repaired to the Propaganda on the -affairs of their several missions, supplied a sort of supplement -to the ordinary resources of the institution. -In this way a German missionary, Father Brunner, -(now, I believe, superior of a religious congregation -in the United States,) initiated him in the languages -of Western Africa. Father Brunner had been for a -time a missionary in Congo. On his arrival in -Rome, Mezzofanti placed himself in communication -with him; and Cardinal Reisach, (who was at that -time Rector of the Propaganda,) states that he soon -progressed so far as to be able to keep up a conversation -in the language. The general language of Congo -comprises many distinct branches, the Loango, the -Kakongo, the Mandongo, the Angolese, and the Camba.<a id="FNanchor_498" href="#Footnote_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a> -Of these Mezzofanti applied himself especially to -the Angolese, in which he more than once composed -pieces for recitation at the academical exhibition of -the Epiphany. Two of these, which will be found in -the appendix, have been submitted to the criticism of -Mr. Consul Brande, long a resident at Loango, who -pronounces them “to exhibit a correct knowledge of -the Angolese or Bunda language.”<a id="FNanchor_499" href="#Footnote_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_371"></a>[371]</span></p> - -<p>I may add to the number of those with whom he -was accustomed to speak oriental languages, two -others mentioned to me by Cardinal Wiseman. The -first was a learned Chaldean, Paul Alkushi, who had -once been a student of the Propaganda, but relinquished -the intention of embracing the ecclesiastical -profession. The other was a converted Jew, a native -of Bagdad, and who, although otherwise illiterate, -spoke fluently Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian. He -was familiarly known in Rome by the sobriquet of -“<i>Shalom</i>,” from the habitual salutation with which -he used to address his friends at meeting and parting.</p> - -<p class="tb">The only letters of this period which I have been -able to procure are two, addressed to his Bolognese -friends, Michael Ferrucci and Liborio Veggetti. The -former (dated June 6th, 1836,) is in acknowledgment -of some copies of Latin Epigrams, partly from -his own pen, partly from that of the Canonico Schiassi, -which Ferrucci had sent to Mezzofanti: but it -is chiefly noticeable for the warm interest which it -evinces in the welfare of his old friend, who had written -to ask advice and assistance in his candidature -for a professorship in one of the Tuscan Universities, -Signor Ferrucci, some time afterwards, went to Geneva, -as professor of rhetoric, but he eventually obtained -an appointment in the University of Pisa, -where he is now Librarian.</p> - -<p>The letter to Veggetti, (February 17, 1838,) regards -his appointment as Librarian of the University<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_372"></a>[372]</span> -of Bologna, in which Mezzofanti had been much -interested.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I am delighted that my wishes have not been in vain or without -effect, and that the Library, for so many years the object of -my care, is confided to the direction of an old and distinguished -pupil of my own. I need not give you any advice, knowing, as I -do, what exactness and assiduity you have always shown in the -discharge of your duties. Knowing, also, the good understanding -you maintain with my nephew, Monsignor Minarelli, in whom I -repose the fullest confidence, I need only say that if you consult -with him in any doubt which may arise regarding your duties, it -will be the same as if you were speaking with the old librarian -himself.</p> - -<p>I must confess I am more gratified at your having obtained this -appointment, than if you had been appointed to the chair of -History, a difficult post, and more difficult the farther one advances. -And while I congratulate you, I must also felicitate -myself on leaving in such excellent hands the precious deposit -hitherto entrusted to my own care. I will not fail to profit by -your work which you have so kindly presented to me.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Dr. Veggetti still holds the office of Librarian at -Bologna. He continued to correspond occasionally -with Mezzofanti, up to the period of his death.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_373"></a>[373]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1838-1841.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Among the offices connected with the Roman Court, -there is a certain class, known as <i>Poste Cardinalizie</i>, -the tenure of which is, in the ordinary course of affairs, -a step to the Cardinalate. The chief keepership of -the Vatican Library is not necessarily one of these; -but it had long been known that Monsignor Mezzofanti -was destined for the purple; and, in a consistory -held on the 12th of February, 1838, he was “preconized” -as Cardinal Priest, in company with three -other prelates—Angelo Mai, (who had been “reserved -<i>in petto</i>” from the former year,) Orioli, and Mellini.</p> - -<p>The order of Cardinal Priests, as is well known, -are the representatives, in the more modern -constitution of the Roman church, of the ancient -<i>Presbyteri Cardinales</i>—the priests of the principal -churches in which Baptism was administered, (<i>tituli -Cardinales</i>) of the ancient city. Their number, -which at the end of the fifth century was twenty-five, -has been gradually increased to fifty: but the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_374"></a>[374]</span> -memory of their primitive institution is preserved -in the titles under which they are named, and which -are taken from the churches over which the ancient -Presbyters presided. The title of Cardinal Mezzofanti -was derived from the ancient church of Saint -Onuphrius, (Sant’ Onofrio,) on the Janiculum, which -is probably best known to visitors of Rome as the -last resting-place of the poet Tasso.</p> - -<p>To many persons, no doubt, the office of Cardinal -has but little significance, except as a part of the -stately ceremonial of the Roman court—a brilliant -and enviable sinecure, sometimes the reward of distinguished -merit, sometimes the prize of political influence -or hereditary family claims. But to well -informed readers it is scarcely necessary to explain -that the College of Cardinals forms, or rather supplies, -the entire deliberative and executive administration -of the Pope in the general management of the -affairs of the Church; holding permanently and systematically -the place of the council of which we so often -read in the early centuries. By the ancient constitution -of the Sacred College, all matters of importance -were considered and discussed in the general meeting -of the body, called the Consistory; but, in the -multiplication of business, it became necessary to -distribute the labour; and, since the latter part of -the sixteenth century,<a id="FNanchor_500" href="#Footnote_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a> under the great administrative -Pontiffs, Paul IV., Pius IV., Pius V., and above all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_375"></a>[375]</span> -Sixtus V., a system of “<i>congregations</i>” has arisen, -by which, as by a series of committees, the details of -all the various departments are administered; yet -under the general superintendence of the Pope -himself, and subject, in all things, to his final revision. -Some of these congregations, (which amount to -nearly twenty in all,) consist exclusively of Cardinals; -some are composed both of Cardinals and prelates; -and a few of prelates only: but, in almost every -case, the Prefect, at least, of the congregation is a -Cardinal. Some congregations meet every week, -others only once a month; but in all the leading -ones, as for instance in the Propaganda, there is a -weekly meeting (<i>congresso</i>) of the Prefect and -secretary with the clerks or <i>minutanti</i>, for the despatch -of pressing business or of affairs of routine; -all the business of these meetings being submitted to -the Pope for his approval.</p> - -<p>To each Cardinal, either as Prefect, or at least as -member, four of these congregations, as an ordinary -rule, are assigned at his first appointment; in many -cases, the number is afterwards increased; and, -when it is remembered that in many of these the -business is weighty and complicated, often involving -much documentary matter, extensive theological or -canonical research, and careful investigation of -precedents, &c.; and that these congregations, after all, -form but a part of the duties of a Cardinal; it will -be understood that his position is very far from the -sinecure which the unreflecting may suppose it to be.</p> - -<p>In the congregations assigned to Cardinal Mezzofanti<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_376"></a>[376]</span> -at his nomination, regard was of course paid to -his peculiar qualifications. He was named Prefect -of the “Congregation for the correction of the Liturgical -Books of the Oriental Church,” and also of the -“Congregation of Studies.” He was also, on the same -grounds, appointed a member, not only of the general -“Congregation of the Propaganda,” but also of the -special one “On the affairs of the Chinese Mission,” -and of those of “the Index,” “of Rites,” and of “the -Examination of Bishops.”</p> - -<p>With a similar consideration for his well known -habits and tastes, and with a due appreciation of the -charity for the sick which had always characterized -him, he was named President of the great Hospital -of San Salvatore, and visitor of the House of Catechumens, -in which, as being chiefly destined for -converted Jews and Mahomedans, his acquaintance -with the Hebrew and Arabic languages and literatures -rendered his services peculiarly valuable.</p> - -<p>The official revenue assigned from the Civil List -for a cardinal resident in Rome, is four thousand -Roman crowns (between eight and nine hundred -pounds sterling); by far the greater part of which is -absorbed in the necessary expenses of his household, -the payment of his chaplain, secretary, and servants, -the maintenance of his state equipage, &c.; so that -for those cardinals who, like Mezzofanti, possess -no private fortune, the remnant available for purely -personal expenditure is very trifling indeed. With -Mezzofanti’s frugal and simple habits, however, it -not only proved amply sufficient to supply all his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_377"></a>[377]</span> -own modest wants, but also enabled him to enlarge -and extend the unostentatious charities which, -throughout his entire life, he had never failed to bestow, -even while he was himself struggling against -the disadvantages of a narrow and precarious income. -So well known, indeed, were his almost prodigal -charities, while in charge of the Vatican, and his consequent -poverty at the time of his nomination to the -Cardinalate, that the Pope, Gregory XVI., himself -presented him, from the Pontifical establishment, the -two state carriages<a id="FNanchor_501" href="#Footnote_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> which form the necessary -equipage of a Cardinal in all processions and other -occasions of public ceremonial.</p> - -<p>He selected for his residence the Palazzo Valentiniani, -in the Piazza SS. Apostoli; where his nephew, -Gaetano Minarelli, and Anna, one of his unmarried -nieces, came to live with him on his nomination to the -Cardinalate, and continued to reside until his death.</p> - -<p>The news of his elevation was received with great -pleasure at Bologna, and was the occasion of many -public and private demonstrations. The most remarkable -of these was from the Academy of the -<i>Filopieri</i>, of which he had been the President at the -time of his removal from Bologna. The Italians are -singularly conservative of established forms; the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_378"></a>[378]</span> -members of the Academy, in accordance with a usage -which may almost be called classical, met in full assembly -(with all the accompaniments of decorations, -inscriptions, and music, in which Italian taste is displayed -on such occasions), to congratulate their fellow-academician. -The congratulatory addresses, however, -which in England would have been a set of speeches -and resolutions, here, as became the “Lovers of -the Muses,” took a poetical form; and a series of -odes, sonnets,<a id="FNanchor_502" href="#Footnote_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a> elegies, <i>canzoni</i>, <i>terzine</i>, and epigrams, -in Greek, Latin, and Italian, were recited by the -members. Some of them are exceedingly spirited and -graceful. They were all collected into a little -volume, which, with great delicacy and good taste, is -dedicated not to the Cardinal himself, but to his -nephew, Monsignor Joseph Minarelli, of whom I have -already spoken, and who was at this time Rector of -the university of Bologna.<a id="FNanchor_503" href="#Footnote_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a></p> - -<p>A still more characteristic tribute on his elevation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_379"></a>[379]</span> -was a polyglot visit of congratulation from his young -friends in the Propaganda. A party of fifty-three, -comprising all the languages and nationalities at that -time represented in the institution, waited upon him -to offer their greetings in their various tongues. -The new Cardinal was at once amused by the novel -exhibition, and gratified by the compliment thus delicately -implied. True, however, to his old character -for readiness and dexterity, he was found fully equal -to the occasion, and answered each in his own language -with great spirit and precision.<a id="FNanchor_504" href="#Footnote_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a></p> - -<p>Cardinal Mezzofanti’s elevation, of course, brought -him into closer, and, if possible, more affectionate relations -with the Pope. Among his brethren of the -Sacred College, too, there were many whom, even as -prelate, he could call his friends. I have already -spoken of his relations with the learned Cardinal -Giustiniani, and the venerable Cardinal Pacca. -With Cardinal Lambruschini, the Secretary of State, -and Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of the Propaganda, -he had long been on a footing of most confidential -intimacy. His especial friends, however, were Cardinals -Mai, Polidori, Bernetti, and the amiable and -learned English Cardinal Acton, who, although not -proclaimed till 1842, was named <i>in petto</i> in the year -after the elevation of Cardinal Mezzofanti.<a id="FNanchor_505" href="#Footnote_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_380"></a>[380]</span></p> - -<p>But, with the exception of the public and ceremonial -observances which his new dignity exacted, it -brought no change in his simple, and almost ascetic -manner of life. The externals of his household, of -course, underwent considerable alteration, but his -personal habits remained the same. He continued to -rise at the same hour: his morning devotions, his -daily mass, his visits to the hospitals, and other private -acts of charity, remained unaltered. His table, -though displaying somewhat more ceremonial, continued -almost as frugal, and entirely as simple, as -before his elevation. He persevered, unless when -prevented by his various official duties, in paying his -daily visit to the Propaganda, and in assisting and -directing the studies of its young inmates, with all -his accustomed friendliness and familiarity. His -affability to visitors, even of the humblest class, was, -if possible, increased. Above all, as regarded his -favourite studies, and the exercise of his wonderful -talent, his elevation to the Cardinalate brought no -abatement of enthusiasm, and no relaxation of energy. -It is not merely that the visitors who saw him as -Cardinal, concur in attesting the unaltered activity -of his mind, and the undiminished interest with which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_381"></a>[381]</span> -he availed himself of every new opportunity of perfecting -or exercising his favourite accomplishment. -For years after his elevation, he continued to add -zealously and successfully to the stores which he had -already laid up. There is distinct evidence that after -this period, (although he had now entered upon his -sixty-fourth year,) he acquired several languages, -with which he had previously had little, and perhaps -no acquaintance.</p> - -<p>A very interesting instance has been communicated -to me by M. Antoine d’Abbadie,<a id="FNanchor_506" href="#Footnote_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a> who visited -the Cardinal in 1839, at Rome. M. d’Abbadie had -been a traveller from early manhood. Setting out in -the year 1837, in company with his brother Arnauld, -to explore the sources of the White Nile, he traversed -the greater part of north eastern Africa. -Their wanderings, however, proved a mission of -religion and charity, no less than of science. During -their long and varied intercourse with the several -tribes of Abyssinia, they observed with painful -interest that strange admixture of primitive Catholic -truth with gross and revolting superstition by which all -travellers have been struck; and their first care was -to study carefully the condition of the country and -the character of the people, with a view to the organization -of a judicious and effective missionary expedition<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_382"></a>[382]</span> -by which their many capabilities for good -might be developed. Hence, it is that, while their -letters, reports, and essays, communicated to the -various scientific journals and societies of France -and England,<a id="FNanchor_507" href="#Footnote_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a> have added largely to our knowledge of -the languages,<a id="FNanchor_508" href="#Footnote_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a> the geography, and the natural history -of these imperfectly explored provinces, their services -to the Church by the introduction of missionaries, by -the advice and information which they have uniformly -afforded them, and even by their own personal co-operation -in the great work, have entitled them to -the gratitude of all to whom the interests of truth -and civilization are dear.</p> - -<p>M. Antoine d’Abbadie, after two years spent in such -labours, returned to Europe in 1839, for the purpose -of preparing himself for a further and more systematic -exploration. On arriving in Rome, he took an -early opportunity of waiting upon the Cardinal, -accompanied by two Abyssinians, who spoke only the -Amarinna language, and by a Galla servant, whose -native (and only) language was the Ilmorma, a -tongue almost entirely unknown, even to the learned -in this branch of philology.<a id="FNanchor_509" href="#Footnote_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a> M. d’Abbadie himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_383"></a>[383]</span> -spoke Basque, a language which was still new to -Mezzofanti; and he was thus witness of what was -certainly a very unwonted scene—the great Polyglottist -completely at fault.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I saw Cardinal Mezzofanti,” writes M. d’Abbadie, “in 1839. -He asked me in Arabic what language I wished to speak, and I, in -order to test him, proposed conversing in Basque. I am far from -knowing this idiom well; but, as I transact my farmer’s business -in Basque, I can easily puzzle a foreigner in it. The Cardinal -waived my proposal, and asked me what African language I -would speak. I now spoke Amarinna, i.e., the language named -<i>Ancharica</i> by Ludolf, who probably added the final <i>c</i> in order to -suit the word to Latin articulation. Not being able to answer in -Amarinna, Mezzofanti said: <i>Ti amirnu timhirta lisana Gi-iz</i> -(‘Have you the knowledge of the Gi-iz language?’) This -was well said, and beautifully pronounced, but shewed that -the Cardinal got his knowledge of Gi-iz from persons who -read, but did not speak it in general. I afterwards ascertained in -Abyssinia that no professor, i.e., no person accustomed to colloquial -Gi-iz, had been yet in Rome, during this century at least. -I may here mention that Gi-iz, generally called Ethiopic in -Europe, is the liturgical language in Abyssinia, where it is -looked on by the learned as a dead language, although it is still -spoken by at least one of the shepherd tribes near the Red -Sea. In my visit to Cardinal Mezzofanti, I had with me two -Amara Abyssines, with whom he could not speak, as neither of -them knew Gi-iz enough, and I had not yet learned that language. -My third companion was a Galla, who had taught me -his language, viz., Ilmorma, in a most tedious way, for he -knew no other tongue, and I was forced to elicit every meaning -by a slowly convergent series of questions, which I put every -time he used a word new to me. Some of these had until then remained -a mystery to me; as the word <i>self</i>, and some others of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_384"></a>[384]</span> -the same abstract class. I had likewise laboured in vain to get -the Ilmorma word for ‘soul’; and having mentioned all this to -Mezzofanti, I added, that as a philologist and a father of the -church, he could render me no better service than giving me the -means of teaching my Galla barbarian that he had a soul to be -saved. ‘Could not your eminence,’ said I, ‘find the means of -learning from this African what is the word for soul? I have -written twelve hundred words of his language, which you will -certainly turn to better account than I can.’ The Cardinal made -no direct answer. I saw him several times afterwards, and he -always addressed me in Arabic; but, being a tyro in that language, -I could not pretend to judge his knowledge or fluency. -However, a native Syrian then in Rome, told me that both were -admirable: this referred, I suppose now, to the Syrian dialect.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>A failure so unusual for Mezzofanti, and in so many -languages, could not but prove a stimulus to the industry -of this indefatigable student. He was at the moment -busily engaged in the revision of the Maronite and -Armenian liturgies;—a circumstance, by the way, -which perhaps may account for his passing over without -notice, M. d’Abbadie’s proposal about the Galla -language;—but, a few months later, he addressed -himself to the Amarinna with all the energy of his -most youthful days. How it ended, we shall see.</p> - -<p>In the close of July, 1841, when I first had the -honour of seeing him, he was surrounded by a group -of Abyssinians, who had just come to Rome under -the escort of Monsignor de Jacobis, the apostolic Prefect -of the Abyssinian mission. These Abyssinians -were all reputed to be persons of distinction among -their countrymen, and several of the number were -understood to be professors and men of letters. The -Cardinal was speaking to them freely and without<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_385"></a>[385]</span> -embarrassment; and his whole manner, as well as -theirs, appeared to me (so far as one entirely unacquainted -with the language could judge) to indicate -that he spoke with ease, and was understood by them -without an effort. Thinking it probable, however, -that M. d’Abbadie during his second sojourn in Abyssinia, -must have known something of this mission, -I thought it well to write to him on the subject. He informed -me, in reply, that the Abyssinians whom I had -thus seen were a deputation of the schismatical Christians -of that country, who had been sent by the native -chieftains to Alexandria, to obtain from the Patriarch -(to whom they so far recognise their subjection) -the consecration of the Abun, or Primate, of -their national church. Father de Jacobis, who was -their fellow-traveller as far as Alexandria, induced -them to accompany him to Rome, where they were -so much struck with all that they saw and heard, that -“two out of the three professors of Gondar, who were -the leaders of the deputation, have, since their return, -freely and knowingly entered the one true Church—Amari, -Kanfu, and the one-eyed professor, Gab’ra -Mikaël.” One of these told M. d’Abbadie that “Cardinal -Mezzofanti conversed very well with him in -Amarinna, and that he also knew the Gi-iz language.” -He had thus learned the Amarinna between 1839 -and 1841.</p> - -<p class="tb">I am indebted to M. d’Abbadie for an account of -another still later acquisition of the Cardinal’s declining -years. Before the summer of 1841, he had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_386"></a>[386]</span> -acquired the Amarinna language. Now at that time -he was actually engaged, with all the energy of his -early years, in the study of the proverbially “impossible”<a id="FNanchor_510" href="#Footnote_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a> -Basque, in which, as we have seen, M. d’Abbadie -found him a novice in 1839.</p> - -<p>One of my companions in Rome in 1841, the lamented -Guido Görres, of Munich, son of the venerable -author of that name, and himself one of the most -accomplished writers of Catholic Germany, having -chanced to say to the Cardinal that he was then engaged -in the study of Basque, the latter proposed -that they should pursue it in company. Their readings -had only just commenced when I last saw Herr -Görres; but M. d’Abbadie’s testimony at a later date -places the Cardinal’s success in this study likewise -entirely beyond question. He had not only learned -before the year 1844, the general body of the language, -but even mastered its various dialects so as -to be able to converse both in the Labourdain and -the Souletin; which, it should be observed, are not -simply dialects of Basque, but minor sub-divisions of -one out of the four leading dialects which prevail in -the different districts of Biscay and Navarre.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_387"></a>[387]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“My friend M. Dassance,” says M. d’Abbadie, “who has published -several works, and who, after declining a bishopric, is still a canon -in the Bayonne Cathedral, told me the other day, that, on visiting the -Cardinal in 1844, he was surprised to hear him speak French -with that peculiar Parisian accent which pertains to the ancient -nobility of the Faubourg St. Germain. This is a nice distinction -of which several Frenchmen are not aware. On hearing that -Dassance was a Basque, the Cardinal immediately said: <i>Mingo -zitugu?</i> (<i>verbatim</i>—‘Of whence have we you’?) thus shewing -that he had mastered the tremendous difficulty of our vernacular -verb. The ensuing conversation took place in the pure -Labourdain dialect, which is spoken here (at Urrugne,) but one -of the professors of the Bayonne Seminary, Father Chilo, from -Soule, avers that the Cardinal spoke to him in the Souletin -dialect.”<a id="FNanchor_511" href="#Footnote_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>I afterwards shewed to M. d’Abbadie a short sentence -in Basque which the Cardinal wrote with his -own hand, and which is printed among the fac similes -prefixed to this volume.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Tauna! zu servitzea da erreguiñatea;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Zu maitatzea da zoriona,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Lord! to serve Thee is to reign;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To love Thee, is happiness.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>M. d’Abbadie, as also his Highness Prince Lewis -L. Bonaparte, to whom M. d’Abbadie submitted it, -had some doubt as to the propriety of the form, ‘<i>zu</i> -servitzea,’ ‘<i>zu</i> maitatzea’; both of them preferring to -write <i>zure</i>. But, as the dialect in which the sentence -is written is that of Guipuscoa, both his Highness and -M. d’Abbadie have kindly taken the trouble to refer -the question to native Guipuscoan scholars; and I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_388"></a>[388]</span> -have had the gratification to learn by a letter of M. -d’Abbadie, (January 18th, 1858,) that “the construction -‘<i>zu</i> servitzea,’ is perfectly correct in Guipuscoan.”</p> - -<p>M. d’Abbadie subjoins, that, in addition to the -authority of his friend, M. Dassance, for the Cardinal’s -knowledge of Basque, he has since been assured by a -Spanish lady, a native of San Sebastian, the capital -of Guipuscoa, that the Cardinal had also conversed -with her in her native Guipuscoan dialect. Moreover, -when M. Manavit saw him in Rome in 1846, he -translated freely in his presence a newly published -Basque catechism, which M. Manavit presented to -him on the part of the Bishop of Astros: and several -distinguished Biscayan ecclesiastics assured M. Manavit -that the Cardinal spoke both the dialects of -Basque with equal fluency.<a id="FNanchor_512" href="#Footnote_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a> In a word, it appears -impossible to doubt the complete success of this, one of -his latest essays in the acquisition of a new language.</p> - -<p>As the object of this biography, however, is not -merely to bring together such marvels as these, but -to collect all the materials for a just portraiture of -the linguist himself, I must place in contrast with -these truly wonderful narratives, the judgments of -other travellers, in order that the reader may be -enabled to modify each by comparison with its pendant, -and to form his own estimate from a just combination -of both.</p> - -<p>It must be confessed, as a set off against the -wonders which have been just recounted, that there -were others of Mezzofanti’s visitors who were unable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_389"></a>[389]</span> -to see in him any of these excellencies. I think, -however, that these depreciatory judgments will be -found for the most part to proceed from ignorant and -superficial tourists, and from those who are least -qualified to form an accurate estimate of the attainments -of a linguist. One of the heaviest penalties -of eminence is the exposure which it involves to -impertinent or malevolent criticism, nor is it wonderful -that one who received so great a variety of -visitors as did Mezzofanti, should have had his -share of this infliction.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Paget, a Transylvanian lady, married to an -English gentleman, who saw Mezzofanti a little -before M. d’Abbadie, is cited by Mr. Watts.<a id="FNanchor_513" href="#Footnote_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> Her -characteristic is rather recklessness and ill-breeding -than positive malevolence. But as her strictures, ill-bred -as they are, contain some facts which tend to -illustrate the main subject of inquiry, I shall insert -them without abridgment.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Mezzofanti entered, in conversation with two young Moors, -and, turning to us, asked us to be seated. On me his first -appearance produced an unfavourable impression. His age might -be about seventy; he was small in stature, dry, and of a pale unhealthy -look. His whole person was in monkey-like restless -motion. We conversed together for some time. He speaks -Hungarian well enough, and his pronunciation is not bad. I -asked him from whom he had learned it; he said from the -common soldiers at Milan. He had read the works of Kisfaludi -and Csokonai, Pethe’s Natural History, and some other Hungarian -books, but it seemed to me that he rather studies the words than<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_390"></a>[390]</span> -the subject of what he reads. Some English being present, he -spoke English with them very fluently and well; with me he -afterwards spoke French and German, and he even addressed me -in Wallachian; but to my shame I was unable to answer. He -asked if I knew Slowakian. In showing us some books, he read -out from them in Ancient and Modern Greek, Latin and Hebrew. -To a priest who was with us, and who had travelled in Palestine, -he spoke in Turkish. I asked him how many languages he -knew: ‘Not many,’ he replied, ‘for I only speak forty or -fifty.’ Amazing incomprehensible faculty! but not one that I -should in the least be tempted to envy; for the empty unreflecting -word-knowledge, and the innocently exhibited small vanity -with which he was filled, reminded me rather of a monkey or a -parrot, a talking machine, or a sort of organ wound up for the -performance of certain tunes, than of a being endowed with reason. -He can, in fact, only be looked upon as one of the curiosities -of the Vatican.</p> - -<p>“At parting, I took an opportunity of asking if he would allow -me to present an Hungarian book to the Vatican library. My -first care at my hotel was to send a copy of M. W.’s book, -‘Balitéletekröl’ (‘On Prejudices’)<a id="FNanchor_514" href="#Footnote_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> to the binder, and a few -days afterwards I took it, handsomely bound in white leather, to -Mezzofanti, whom I found in a hurry to go and baptize some -Jews and Moors. As soon as he saw the book, without once -looking into it, even to ascertain the name of the author, he -called out, ‘Ah! igen szép, igen szép, munka. Szepen van -bekötve. Aranyos, szép, szép, igen szép, igen koszönöm.’ -(Ah! very fine, very fine, very finely bound. Beautiful, very -fine, very fine, thank you very much;)—and put it away in a book-case. -Unhappy Magyar volumes, never looked at out of their -own country, but by some curious student of philology like -Mezzofanti, and in their own country read by how few!”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Now, in the first place, in the midst of this lady’s -supercilious and depreciatory strictures, it may safely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_391"></a>[391]</span> -be inferred, that Mezzofanti’s Hungarian at least -must have been unexceptionable, in order to draw from -one so evidently prejudiced, the admission that he -“spoke it well enough,” and that “his pronunciation -was not bad.” Lest, however, any doubt should be -created by these grudging acknowledgments, I -shall quote the testimony of a Hungarian nobleman, -Baron Glucky de Stenitzer, who met the Cardinal in -Rome some years later, in 1845. The Baron not -only testifies to the excellence of his Magyar, but -affirms “that, in the course of the interview, his Eminence -spoke no less than four different dialects of that -tongue—the pure Magyar of Debreczeny, that of the -environs of Eperies, that of Pesth, and that of -Transylvania!”</p> - -<p>In like manner, though Madame Paget takes upon -her to say, that “the Cardinal studies the words rather -than the subject of what he reads,” Baron Glucky -found him “profoundly versed in the laws and constitution -of Hungary”; and when, in speaking of the extraordinary -power enjoyed by the Primate of Hungary, -the Baron chanced to allude to his privilege of -coining money, his Eminence promptly reminded him -that “this privilege had been withdrawn by the Emperor -Ferdinand, and even quoted the year of the -edict by which it was annulled!”<a id="FNanchor_515" href="#Footnote_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a></p> - -<p>As regards the dashing style in which this lady -sets aside the Cardinal’s Magyar reading, which <i>only</i> -embraced “the works of Kisfaludi and Czokonai, -Pethe’s Natural History, and some other Hungarian -books,” it may be enough for the reader to know that, -without reckoning the “other Hungarian books,” the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_392"></a>[392]</span> -three works which she names thus slightingly, comprise -no less than <i>seven volumes</i> of poetry and miscellaneous -literature.</p> - -<p>For what remains of her strictures upon the character -of Mezzofanti—strictures be it observed, which -she has the hardihood to offer, although her entire -knowledge was derived from two interviews of a few -minutes, among a crowd of other visitors—her charge -of love of display, “empty word-knowledge,” “monkey-like” -exhibition, and the other pettinesses of “small -vanity,” the best commentary that can be offered is an -account of the Cardinal published at this very period, -by one who knew him intimately during a residence -of many months in Rome, who was actually for a -time his pupil or fellow student, and who, from his -position, was thoroughly conversant, not only with the -sentiments of the Cardinal’s friends and admirers, but -with all the variety of criticisms to which, according -to the diversity of tastes and opinions, his character -and his gifts were subjected in the general society of -the literary circles of Rome—I mean the amiable -and learned Guido Görres. I may add that I -myself was Herr Görres’s companion in one of his -interviews with the Cardinal.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“If any one should imagine,” he writes, (in the Historisch-Politische -Blätter,<a id="FNanchor_516" href="#Footnote_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a> of which, conjointly with Dr. Phillips, he -was editor,) “that all the honours which he has received have -produced the slightest effect upon his character or disposition, he -is grievously mistaken. Under all the insignia of the cardinalate, -Mezzofanti is still the same plain, simple, almost bashful, good-natured, -conscientious, indefatigable, active priest that he was, -while a poor professor, struggling by the exercise of his talents,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_393"></a>[393]</span> -in the humblest form, to gain a livelihood for the relatives who -were dependant on his exertions. Although his head is stored -with so many languages, it has never, as so frequently occurs to -the learned, shown the least indication of lightness. As Prefect -of the House of Catechumens he is merely of course, charged -with the supervision of their instruction; but he still discharges -the duty in person, with all the exactness of a conscientious -schoolmaster. He visits the establishment almost every day, and -devotes a considerable part of his income to the support of its -inmates.</p> - -<p>In like manner he still, as Cardinal, maintains with the Propaganda -precisely the same relations which he held as a simple -prelate. Although he is not bound thereto by any possible obligation, -he devotes every day to the students of that institution, -in summer an hour, in winter an hour and a half. He practises -them and also himself in their several languages, and zealously -avails himself of the opportunity thus afforded him, to exhort -them to piety and to strengthen them in the spirit of their calling.</p> - -<p>It is scarcely necessary to say that these youths regard -their disinterested friend and benefactor with the most devoted -affection....</p> - -<p>When I spoke to him, one day, about his relations with the -pupils, he said to me, ‘It is not as a Cardinal I go there; it -is as a student—as a youth—(giovanetto.)’...</p> - -<p>He is familiar with all the European languages. And by this -we understand not merely the old classical tongues and the first -class modern ones; that is to say, the Greek and Latin, the Italian, -French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and English; his -knowledge embraces also the languages of the second class, viz. -the Dutch, the Polish, Bohemian or Czechish, and Servian, the -Hungarian, and Turkish; and even those of the third and fourth -class—the Irish, Welsh, Albanian, Wallachian, Bulgarian, and -Illyrian—are equally at his command. On my happening to -mention that I had once dabbled a little in Basque, he at once -proposed that we should set about it together. Even the Romani -of the Alps, and the Lettish, are not unfamiliar to him; -nay, he has made himself acquainted with Lappish, the language<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_394"></a>[394]</span> -of the wretched nomadic tribes of Lapland; although he told me -he did not know whether it should be called Lappish or Laplandish. -He is master of all the languages which are classed under -the Indo-German family—the Sanscrit and Persian, the Koordish, -the Armenian, and the Georgian; he is familiar with all -the members of the Semitic family, the Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, -Samaritan, Chaldee, Sabaic, and even the Chinese, which -he not only reads but speaks. As regards Africa, he knows the -Coptic, Ethiopic, Abyssinian, Amharic, and Angolese.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Görres adds what I have already mentioned, as a -characteristic mark of their affectionate gratitude, that -forty-three of his Propaganda scholars waited upon -him on occasion of his promotion to the Cardinalate, -and addressed to him a series of congratulations, each -in his native dialect. He fully bears out too, the -assurance which has been repeated over and over -again by every one who had really enjoyed the -intimacy of the Cardinal, that, frequently as he -came before the public in circumstances which seemed -to savour of display, and freely as he contributed to -the amusement of his visitors by exhibiting in conversation -with them his extraordinary acquirements, he -was entirely free from that vanity to which Madame -Paget thinks proper to ascribe it all.</p> - -<p>“With all his high qualifications,” says the Rev. Ingraham -Kip,<a id="FNanchor_517" href="#Footnote_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a> a clergyman of the American episcopal -church, “there is a modesty about Cardinal Mezzofanti -which shrinks from anything like praise.” “It -would be a cruel misconception of his character,” -says Guido Görres, “to imagine that, with all the admiration -and all the wonder of which he habitually saw<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_395"></a>[395]</span> -himself the object, he yet prided himself in the least -upon this extraordinary gift. ‘Alas!’ he once -said to a friend of mine, a good simple priest, who, -sharing in the universal curiosity to see this wonderful -celebrity, apologized to the Cardinal for his visit -by some compliment upon his European reputation:—‘alas! -what will all these languages avail me for -the kingdom of heaven, since it is by works, not words, -that we must win our way thither!’”</p> - -<p>In truth Cardinal Mezzofanti possessed in an eminent -degree the great safeguard of christian humility—a -habitual consciousness of what he <i>was not</i>, rather -than a self-complacent recollection of what he was. -He used to speak freely of his acquirement as one of -little value, and one especially for which he himself -had little merit—a mere physical endowment—a -thing of instinct, and almost of routine. God, he said, -had gifted him with a good memory and a quick ear. -There lay the secret of his success—“What am I,” he -would pleasantly say, “but an ill-bound dictionary!” -“He used to disparage his gifts to me,” says Cardinal -Wiseman; “and he once quoted a saying ascribed to -Catherine de Medici, who when told that Scaliger -knew twenty languages, observed, ‘that is twenty -words for one idea! For my part I would rather -have twenty ideas for one word!’” On one occasion, -after the publication of Cardinal Wiseman’s <i>Horæ -Syriacæ</i>, Mezzofanti said to him: “You have put -your knowledge of languages to some purpose. When -I go, I shall not leave a trace of what I know behind -me!” And when his friend suggested that it was not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_396"></a>[396]</span> -yet too late, he “shook his head and said it was”—which -he also repeated to Guido Görres, earnestly expressing -his “regret that his youth had fallen upon a -time when languages were not studied from that -scientific point of view from which they are now regarded.” -In a word, the habitual tendency of his -mind in reference to himself, and to his own acquirements, -was to depreciate them, and to dwell rather -upon his own deficiency and short-comings, than -upon his success.</p> - -<p>Accordingly, while he was always ready to gratify -the learned interest, or even to amuse the lighter -curiosity, with which his extraordinary talent was regarded, -there was as little thought of himself in the -performance, and as little idea of display, as though -he were engaged in an ordinary animated conversation. -It was to him an exciting agreeable exercise -and nothing more. He engaged in it for its own sake. -To him it was as natural to talk in a foreign language -as it would be to another to sing, to relate a lively -anecdote, or to take part in an interesting discussion. -To his humble and guileless mind the notion of exhibition -never presented itself. He retained to his -latest hour and through all the successive steps of -his advancement, the simplicity and lightheartedness -of boyhood. It was impossible to spend half an hour -in his company without feeling the literal truth of -what he himself said to Görres regarding his relations -to the pupils of the Propaganda;—that he went among -them not as a Cardinal, but as a school-boy, (<i>giovanetto</i>.) -What Madame Paget puts down to the account of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_397"></a>[397]</span> -“small vanity,” was in reality the result of these almost -boyish spirits, and of this simple and unaffected -good nature. He delighted in amusing and giving -pleasure; he was always ready to display his extraordinary -gifts, partly for the gratification of others, -partly because it was to himself an innocent and -amusing relaxation: but, among the various impulses -to which he yielded, unquestionably the idea of -display was the last that occurred to him as a motive -of action. I can say, from my own observation, that -never in the most distinguished circle, did he give -himself to those linguistic exercises with half the -spirit which he evinced among his humble friends, -the obscure and almost nameless students of the -Propaganda.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_398"></a>[398]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1841-1843.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>Although my own recollections of Cardinal -Mezzofanti, in comparison with those which have -already been laid before the reader, are so few and -unimportant that I hesitated at one time as to the -propriety of alluding to them, I feel that I should be -very forgetful of the kindness which I experienced -at all times at his hands, were I to withhold the impressions -of his character as well as of his gifts, which -I received from my intercourse with him.</p> - -<p>I saw Cardinal Mezzofanti for the first time, in -July, 1841. He was then in his sixty-seventh year: -but, although his look and colour betrayed the -delicacy of his constitution, his carriage, as yet, exhibited -little indication of the feebleness of approaching -age. He was below the middle stature, and altogether -of a diminutive, though light, and in youth most -active frame. His shoulders, it is true, were slightly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_399"></a>[399]</span> -rounded, and his chest had an appearance of contraction; -but his movements were yet free, tolerably -vigorous, and, although perhaps too hurried for -dignity, not ungraceful. His hair was plentifully -dashed with gray; but, except on the crown, where -the baldness was but partially concealed by the red <i>zucchetto</i>, -(skull cap,) it was still thick and almost luxuriant. -More than one portrait of him has been published, -and several of those who saw him at different times -have recorded their impressions of his appearance: but -I cannot say that any of these portraitures, whether of -pencil or of pen, conveys a full idea of the man. -His countenance was one of those which Madame -Dudevant strangely, but yet significantly, describes -as “not a face, but a physiognomy.” Its character -lay far less in the features than in the expression. -The former, taken separately, were unattractive, and -even insignificant. The proportions of the face were -far from regular. The complexion was dead and -colourless, and these defects were made still more remarkable -by a small mole upon one cheek. There -was an occasional nervous winking of the eyelids, too, -which produced an air of weakness, and at times -even of constraint; but there was, nevertheless, a -pervading expression of gentleness, simplicity, and -open-hearted candour, which carried off all these -individual defects, and which no portrait could -adequately embody. Mr. Monckton Milnes told me -that the best likeness of the Cardinal he ever saw, -was the kneeling figure in Raffaelle’s noble picture, -the Madonna di Foligno: and undoubtedly, without<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_400"></a>[400]</span> -any close affinity of lineament, it has a strong general -similitude of air and expression:—the same “open -brow of undisturbed humanity,” on which no passion -had written a single line, and which care had touched -only to soften and spiritualize; the same quiet smile, -playful, yet subdued, humility blended with self-respect, -modesty unmarred by shyness or timidity;—above -all the same</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Eyes beaming courtesy and mild regard—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">radiant with a sweetness which I have seldom seen -equalled; singularly soft and winning, and possessing -that undefined power which is the true beauty of -an honest eye—a full and earnest, but not scrutinizing -look—deep, but tranquil, and placing you entirely -at ease with yourself by assuring you of its own -perfect calmness and self-possession. But the great -charm of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s countenance was the -look of purity and innocence which it always wore. I -have seldom seen a face which retained in old age so -much of the simple expression of youth, I had almost -said of childhood; although, with all this gaiety and -light-heartedness, there was a gentle gravity in his -bearing which kept it in perfect harmony with his years -and character. He had acquired, or he possessed from -nature, the rare and difficult characteristic of cheerful -old age, to which Rochefoucault alludes when he -says:—<i>Peu de gens savent être vieux</i>. And thus he -was equally at home among his venerable peers of the -Consistory, and in the youngest and most light-hearted -<i>camerata</i> of the Propaganda. No old man ever -illustrated more clearly that</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_401"></a>[401]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The heart—the heart, is the heritage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which keepeth the old man young!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>During a sojourn of some weeks in Rome, in the -summer of 1841, I had the honour of conversing -with his eminence several times; at the Propaganda; -at the Roman Seminary; at a meeting of the Accademia -della Religione Cattolica; and more than -once in his own apartments. In the course of one -of these interviews I heard him speak in several languages, -to different acquaintances whom he met, and -with each of whom he conversed in his own tongue—English, -German, French, Spanish, Romaic, and -Hungarian. With myself his conversation was -always in English.</p> - -<p>His English, as we have seen, has been variously -judged. Herr Fleck describes it as “only middling:” -by others it is pronounced to be undistinguishable -from that of a native. The truth, as in all such -cases, lies between these extremes.</p> - -<p>All visitors, with the single exception of Herr Fleck, -(certainly a very questionable authority,) concur in -admitting at least the perfect fluency and strict -grammatical accuracy of the Cardinal’s English -conversation: but some have hesitated as to its -idiomatical propriety. M. Crawford, ex-secretary of -the Ionian Islands, told M. d’Abbadie<a id="FNanchor_518" href="#Footnote_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a> last year, that -Mezzofanti appeared to him to use some un-English -constructions. To Dean Milman, who was introduced -to him several years ago by Mr. Francis Hare, -his English appeared “as if learned from books,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_402"></a>[402]</span> -grammatical, rather than idiomatical.”<a id="FNanchor_519" href="#Footnote_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a> And Lady -Morgan even determines the period of English literature -on which his English appeared to be modelled.<a id="FNanchor_520" href="#Footnote_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a></p> - -<p>I cannot fully concur, nevertheless, in this opinion. -My own impressions of the Cardinal’s English, derived -from many conversations on different occasions, -agree with those already quoted from Mr. Stewart -Rose, Lady Blessington, Mr. Harford, Bishop -Baines, Cardinal Wiseman, and others, who attest -his perfect accuracy both of grammar and -of idiom. Mr. Badeley, the eminent lawyer, who saw -him but one year before his death, told me that “he -spoke English in a perfectly easy and natural manner;” -and Mr. Kip, whose visit was about the same time, -declares that, “in the course of a long conversation -which he held with the Cardinal, his eminence did -not use a single expression or word in any way that -was not strictly and idiomatically correct.” It is -true that I should hardly have been deceived as to his -being a foreigner; but the slight, though to my ear -decisive, foreign characteristics of his English, were -rather of accent than of language; or, if they regarded -language at all, it was not that his expressions were -unidiomatical, or that his vocabulary was wanting in -propriety, but merely that his sentences were occasionally -more formal—more like the periods of a -regular oratorical composition than is common in the -freedom of every-day conversation. Nor did the -peculiarity of accent to which I refer amount to anything -like absolute impropriety. His pronunciation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_403"></a>[403]</span> -was most exact; his accentuation almost unerring; -and, although it certainly could be distinguished from -that of a born Englishman, the difference lay chiefly in -its being more marked, and in its precision being more -evidently the result of effort and of rule, than the -unstudied and instinctive enunciation of a native -speaking his own language. If I were disposed to -criticize it very strictly, I might say (paradoxical as -this may seem,) that, <i>compared with the enunciation -of a native</i>, it was almost <i>too correct to appear completely -natural</i>; and that its very correctness gave -to it some slight tendency to that extreme which the -Italians themselves, in reference to their own language -in the mouth of a stranger, describe as <i>caricato</i>. -But I have no hesitation in saying, that I never met -any foreigner, not resident in England, whose English -conversation could be preferred to Mezzofanti’s. The -foreign peculiarity was, in my judgment, so slight as -to be barely perceptible, and I have myself known -more than one instance similar to that already related -from Cardinal Wiseman, in which Irish visitors meeting -the Cardinal for the first time, without knowing -who he was, took him <i>for an English dignitary</i>,<a id="FNanchor_521" href="#Footnote_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a> -mistaking the slight trace of foreign peculiarity which -I have described for what is called in Ireland, “the -English accent.”</p> - -<p>Indeed with what care he had attended to the niceties -of English pronunciation—the great stumbling<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_404"></a>[404]</span> -block of all foreign students of the language—may -be inferred from his familiarity with the peculiar -characteristics, even of the provincial dialects. It -will be recollected how he had amused Mr. Harford -in 1817, by his specimens of the Yorkshire and the -<i>Zummer</i>setshire dialects, and how successfully he -imitated for Mr. Walsh the slang of a London -cabman. And a still more amusing example of the -minuteness of his knowledge of these dialects has -been communicated to me by Rev. Mr. Grant of -Lytham, brother of my friend the Bishop of Southwark, -to whose unfailing kindness I am indebted for -this and for many other most interesting particulars -regarding the Cardinal. Mr. Grant was presented -to his eminence in the Spring of 1841, by the Rev. -Father Kelleher, an Irish Carmelite, of which order -the Cardinal was Protector. After some preliminaries -the conversation turned upon the English language.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“‘You have many patois in the English language,’ said the -Cardinal. ‘For instance, the Lancashire dialect is very different -from that spoken by the Cockneys; [he used this word;—] so -much so, that some Londoners would find considerable difficulty in -understanding what a Lancashire man said. The Cockneys always -use <i>v</i> instead of <i>w</i>, and <i>w</i> instead of <i>v</i>: so that they say ‘vine’ instead -of ‘wine;’ [he gave this example.] And then the Irish <i>brogue</i>, -as it is called, is another variety. I remember very distinctly -having a conversation with an Irish gentleman whom I met soon -after the peace, and he always mis-pronounced that word, calling -it ‘<i>pace</i>.’’</p> - -<p>Here, F. Kelleher broke out into a horse-laugh, and, slapping -his hand upon his thigh, cried out, ‘Oh! excèllent! your<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_405"></a>[405]</span> -Eminence, excèllent!’ ‘Now, there you are wrong,’ said -Mezzofanti: ‘you ought not to say excèllent, but èxcellent.’</p> - -<p>Then he went off into a disquisition on the word ‘great,’ contending -that, according to all analogy, it should be pronounced -like ‘gr<i>ee</i>t’—for that the diphthong <i>ea</i> is so pronounced in -almost all, if not in <i>every</i> word, in which it occurs; and he instanced -these words:—‘<i>eagle</i>, <i>meat</i>, <i>beat</i>, <i>fear</i>,’ and some -others. And he said Lord Chesterfield thought the same, and -considered it a vulgarism to pronounce it like ‘grate.’ He next -spoke about the Welsh language—but I really quite forget -what he said: I only remember that the impression left on me -was that he knew Welsh also.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>As to the extent of his acquaintance with English -literature, my own personal knowledge is very limited. -His only allusion to the subject which I recollect, -was a question which he put to me about the completion -of Moore’s History of Ireland. He expressed -a strong feeling of regret that we had not some Irish -History, as learned, as impartial, and as admirable in -its style, as Lingard’s History of England.</p> - -<p>This is a point, however, on which we have the -concurring testimony of a number of English visitors, -extending over a period of nearly thirty years. -The report of Mr. Harford in 1817, has been already -quoted; Dr. Cox of Southampton, spoke with high -admiration of the Cardinal’s powers as an English -critic. Cardinal Wiseman assures me that “he often -heard him speaking on English style, and criticizing -our writers with great justness and accuracy. He -certainly,” adds the Cardinal, “knew the language -and its literature far better than many an English -gentleman.” With Mr. Henry Grattan, then (in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_406"></a>[406]</span> -year 1843,) member of Parliament for Meath, he -held a long conversation on the English language -and literature, especially its poets.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“He spoke in English,” says Mr. Grattan, “and with great -rapidity. He talked of Milton, Pope, Gray, and Chaucer. Milton, -he observed, was our English Homer, but he was formed by the -study of Dante, and of the Prophets. On Gray’s Elegy, -and on Moore’s Melodies, he dwelt with great delight; of the -latter he repeated some passages, and admired them extremely. -Chaucer, he said, was taken from Boccaccio. He added that -Milton, besides his merit as an English poet, also wrote very -pretty Italian poetry. Talking of French literature, he said -that, properly speaking, the French have no poetry: ‘they have -too much poetry in their prose,’ said he, ‘and besides they want -the heart that is necessary for genuine poetry.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p>But the most extraordinary example of Mezzofanti’s -minute acquaintance with English literature -that I have heard, has been communicated to me -by Mr. Badeley, who found him quite familiar with an -author so little read, even by Englishmen, as Hudibras!</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“The Cardinal,” says Mr. Badeley, “received me most -graciously; his first question was, ‘Well, what language shall -we talk?’ I said, ‘Your eminence’s English is doubtless far better -than my Italian, and therefore we had better speak English.’ He -accordingly spoke English to me, in the most easy and natural -manner, and the conversation soon turned upon the English -language, and upon English literature; and his reference to some -of our principal authors, such as Milton, and others of that -class, shewed me that he was well acquainted with them. We -talked of translations, and I mentioned that the most extraordinary -translation I had ever seen was that of Hudibras in French. -He quite started with astonishment. ‘Hudibras in French! -impossible—it cannot be!’ I assured him that it was so, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_407"></a>[407]</span> -that I had the book. ‘But how is it possible,’ said he, ‘to translate -such a book? The rhymes, the wit, the jokes, are the -material points of the work—and it is impossible to translate -these—you cannot give <i>them</i> in French!’ I told him that, strange -as it might seem, they were very admirably preserved in the -translation, the measure and versification being the same, and the -point and spirit of the original maintained with the utmost fidelity. -He seemed quite lost in wonder, and almost incredulous—repeating -several times, ‘Hudibras in French! Hudibras in -French! Most extraordinary—I never heard of such a thing!’ -During the rest of our interview, he broke out occasionally with -the same exclamations; and, as I took leave, he again asked me -about the book. I said that it was rather scarce, as it had been -published many years ago;<a id="FNanchor_522" href="#Footnote_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a> but, that I had a copy, which I -should be happy to send him, if he would do me the honour of -accepting it. Unfortunately, on my return to England, before -I could find anybody to take charge of it for him, he died.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The very capacity to appreciate “the rhymes, the -wit, the jokes,” of Hudibras, in itself implies no common -mastery of English. How few even among -learned Englishmen, could similarly appreciate Berni, -Pulci, Scarron, or Gresset, not to speak of the minor -humourists of France or Italy!</p> - -<p>In all this, however, I have been anticipating. My -own conversations with him, during my first visit to -Rome, had but little reference to languages or to any -kindred subject. He questioned me chiefly about our -college, about the general condition of the Church in -Ireland, and the relations of religious parties in -Ireland and England. My sojourn in Rome occurred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_408"></a>[408]</span> -at a time of great religious excitement in the latter -country. The Tractarian Movement had reached its -highest point of interest. The secessions from the -ranks of Anglicanism had already become so numerous -as to attract the attention of foreign churches. -The strong assertion of catholic principles brought -out by the Hampden Controversy; the steady advance -in tone which the successive issues of the -Tracts for the Times, and still more of the “British -Critic,” had exhibited; above all, the almost complete -identification in doctrine with the decrees of the -Council of Trent, avowed in the celebrated Tract 90; -had created everywhere a confident hope that many -and extensive changes were imminent in England: -and there were not a few among the best informed -foreign Catholics, who were enthusiastic in their -anticipation of the approaching reconciliation of that -country with the Church. It was almost exclusively -on this topic that Cardinal Mezzofanti spoke during -my several interviews with him, in 1841. He was -already well informed as to the general progress of -the movement; but he enquired anxiously about -individuals, and especially about the authors of the -Tracts for the Times. I was much struck by the -extent and the accuracy of his information on the -subject, as well as by the justice of his views. He -was well acquainted with the relations of the High -and Low Church parties and with their history.</p> - -<p>“Rest assured,” he one day said to me, “that it is -to individual conversions you are to look in England. -There will be no general approximation of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_409"></a>[409]</span> -Churches. This is not the first time these principles -have been popular for a while in the English Church. -It was the same at the time of Laud, and again in the -time of the Catholic King, James II. But no general -movement followed. Many individuals became Catholics; -but the mass of the public still remained Protestant, -and were even more violent afterwards.”</p> - -<p>More than once during the many outbursts of fanaticism, -which we have since that time witnessed in -England, I have called to mind this wise and far-seeing -prediction.</p> - -<p>But, although the Cardinal did not partake in the -anticipation, which some indulged, of a general movement -of the English Church towards Rome, his -interest in the conversion of individuals was most -anxious and animated. It was his favourite subject -of conversation with English visitors at this period. -Mr. Grattan has kindly permitted me to copy from his -journal an account of one of his interviews with the -Cardinal, (a few months after this date) which describes -a half serious, half jocular, attempt on the part -of his Eminence to convert him from Protestantism. -Mrs. Grattan, who is a Catholic, was present during -the interview.</p> - -<p>Having referred, in the course of a very interesting -discussion on English literature, which the reader -has already seen, to Sir Thomas More, as the earliest -model of English prose, the Cardinal observed that -More was a truly great and good man.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“‘He made an enemy of his King,’ said he, ‘but he made -a friend in his God.’ He then inquired of Mrs. Grattan, how it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_410"></a>[410]</span> -happened that I had not changed my religion, and become a -Catholic—‘Now-a-days,’ said he, ‘there is no penalty and -no shame attached to the step; on the contrary, a great party in -England esteem you the more for it, and many learned men of -your own day have set you the example. You have, besides, the -venerable Bede; you have St. Patrick, too—both the greatest of your -countrymen in their age; you have King Alfred, and the Edwards, -all inviting you to the Church.’ He then approached me -in the most affectionate manner, took my hand and pressed it, -with a mixture of tenderness, drollery, and good nature. ‘Now -you <i>must</i> change,’ he continued. ‘You will not be able to -escape it; your religion is but three hundred years old: the Catholic -dates from the beginning of Christianity. It is the religion -of Christ; its head on earth is the Pope—not, as yours once was, -an old woman, but the Pope!’ Here he became quite animated, -took Mrs. Grattan’s hand, and drew her over, holding each of -us by the hand; his manner became most fervent, his old eye -glistened, he looked up to Heaven, and exclaimed,—‘There is -the place to make a friend!’ Then turning to me, he said, ‘Ireland -is the garden of religion, and you must one day become -a flower in it.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p>Mr. Grattan was deeply affected by this remarkable -interview; and I may add that I have known -few Protestant visitors of the Cardinal, who did not -carry away the most favourable impressions regarding -him. With all the earnestness and fervour of his own -religious convictions, he was singularly tolerant and -forbearing towards the followers of another creed. -“His gentleness and modesty,” writes Chevalier -(now Baron) Bunsen, “have often struck me. Once, -some misrepresentations of Lady Morgan in her book -on Italy, being mentioned in his presence with strong -vituperation, he gently interposed. ‘Poor Lady -Morgan!’ said he; ‘it is not yet given to her to see -truth.’”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_411"></a>[411]</span></p> - -<p>But although in my conversations with the Cardinal -in 1841, his Eminence confined himself entirely to English, -yet on one occasion, at the close of a meeting of -the Accademia della Cattolica Religione, I heard him -converse, with every appearance of fluency and ease, -in six different languages with the various members of -a group who collected around him; in Romaic with -Monsignor Missir, a Greek Archbishop; in German -with Guido Görres; in Magyar with a Hungarian artist -who accompanied him; in French with the Abbé -La Croix, of the French church of St. Lewis; in Spanish -with a young Spanish Dominican; and in English -with myself and my companions. It was only however, -during a second and more prolonged visit to -Rome in the first six months of 1843, that I was -witness, in its full reality, of the marvellous gift of -which I had read and heard so much.</p> - -<p>I was fortunate enough to arrive on Rome in the -vigil of the great annual “Academy” of the Propaganda, -which, from immemorial time has been held -during the octave of the Epiphany, the special festival -of that institution. It is hardly necessary, in -speaking of an exercise now so celebrated, to explain -that this Academy consists of a series of brief addresses -and recitations, generally speaking in a metrical -form, delivered by the students in all the -various languages which happen at the time to be -represented in the college. The subjects of these -compositions are commonly drawn from the festival -itself, or from some kindred theme; and the rapidity -with which they succeed each other, and the earnestness<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_412"></a>[412]</span> -and vigour with which most of them are -delivered, create an impression which hardly any -other conceivable exhibition could produce. To the -audience, of course, the greater number of these recitations -are an unknown sound; but the earnest -manner of the speakers; their foreign and unwonted -intonations; the curious variety of feature and expression -which they present; and the unique character -of the whole proceeding—gave to the scene an -interest entirely independent of the recitations themselves -considered as literary compositions.</p> - -<p>I never shall forget the impression which I received -at my first entrance at the <i>Aula Maxima</i><a id="FNanchor_523" href="#Footnote_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> on the evening -of Sunday, January 8th, 1843. At the farther -end of the hall, on an elevated platform, the benches -of which rose above each other like the seats of a -theatre, sat the assembled pupils, arranged with some -view to effect, in the order in which they were to take -part in the exercise. They seemed of all ages, from -the dawn of youth to mature manhood. It would -be difficult to find elsewhere collected together so -many specimens of the minor varieties of the human -race. Gazing upon the eager faces crowded -within that little space, one might almost persuade -himself that he had the whole world in miniature -before him, with all its motley tribes and races—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Che comprender non può prosa ne vérso:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Da India, dal Catai, Marrocco, e Spagna.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Some of the varieties, and perhaps those which -present the most marked physiological contrasts with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_413"></a>[413]</span> -the rest, it is true, were wanting; but all the more -delicate shades of difference were clearly discernable; -the familiar lineaments of the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon -race; all the well-known European types of feature -and complexion; the endless though highly contrasted -varieties of Asiatic and North African form—the -classic Indian, the stately Armenian, the calm and -impassive Chaldee, the solemn Syrian, the fiery Arab, -the crafty Egyptian, the swarthy Abyssinian, the -stunted Birman, the stolid Chinese. And yet in all, -far as they seemed asunder in sentient and intelligent -qualities, might be traced the common interest of the -occasion. Each appeared to feel that this—the feast -of the illumination of the Gentiles—was indeed his -own peculiar festival. All were lighted up by the -excitement of the approaching exercise; and it was -impossible, looking upon them, and recalling the object -which had brought them all together from their -distant homes, not to give glory to God for this, the -most glorious work of his church: in which “Parthians, -and Medes, and Elamites, and the inhabitants -of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and -Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts -of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews -also, and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, speak the -wonderful works of God;”—not, as of old, in one -tongue, but each in the tongue of his own people.</p> - -<p>Below the platform were arrayed the auditory. -The front seats, distinguished by their red drapery, -were reserved for the Cardinals, of whom several were -present,—Franzoni, the Cardinal Prefect, with his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_414"></a>[414]</span> -pale and passionless face—the very ideal of self-denying -spirituality;—the English Cardinal Acton, shrinking, -as it seemed, from the notice which his prominent -position drew upon him—Castracane, Cardinal Penitentiary, -with the look of earnest and settled purpose which -he always wore;—the lively little Cardinal Massimo,<a id="FNanchor_524" href="#Footnote_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a> -in animated and evidently pleasant conversation, with -two of the Professors, the lamented abate Palma and -abate Graziosi;—the classic head of Mai, every feature -instinct with intellectuality—every look bespeaking -the scholar and the priest. But it need scarcely be -said, that on this evening, despite his scant proportions -and unimposing presence, every other claimant -for notice was forgotten in comparison with the true -hero of such a scene—the great polyglot Cardinal -Mezzofanti. He was seated on the extreme right of -the front rank, and, as I entered, was conversing -eagerly with a stately looking Greek bishop, Monsignor -Missir, whose towering stature and singularly -noble head contrasted strongly with the diminutive -and almost insignificant figure of the great linguist.</p> - -<p>Behind the Cardinals sate a number of foreign -bishops, prelates, members of religious orders, and other -distinguished strangers, many of them evidently -orientals. The general assembly at the back included<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_415"></a>[415]</span> -most of the literary foreigners then in Rome, -among whom were more than one English clergyman, -at that time the object of many an anxious prayer -and aspiration, of which we have since been permitted -to witness the happy fulfilment in their accession to -the fold of the Church.</p> - -<p>The exercises of the evening, besides a Latin proem -and an epilogue in Italian, comprised forty-eight -recitations on “the Illumination of the Gentiles;” -but, as these included several varieties of Latin -and Italian versification, the total number of -languages represented in the Academy was only -forty-two. The Latin proem was delivered by a young -Irish student from the centre of the platform; the -other speakers delivering their parts from the places -assigned to them by the programme. Most of the -languages were spoken by natives of the several -countries where they prevail; and, where no native -representative could be found, a student remarkable -for his proficiency in the language was selected instead. -It thus happened that the Hebrew psalm was -recited by a Dutchman; the Spanish ode fell to a native -of Stockholm; and the soft measures of the Italian -<i>terzine</i> and anacreontics were committed to the tender -mercies of two youths from beyond the Tweed!</p> - -<p>With those of the odes which I was in some degree -able to follow, the Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and -German, I was much pleased. They appeared to me remarkably -simple, elegant, and in good taste. But for -the rest, it would be idle to attempt to convey an idea -of the strange effect produced by the rapid succession -of unknown sounds, uttered with every diversity of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_416"></a>[416]</span> -intonation,<a id="FNanchor_525" href="#Footnote_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a> accompanied by every variety of gesture, -and running through every interval in the musical -scale, from “syllables which breathe of the soft -south,” to the</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Harsh northern whistling, grunting, guttural,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That we’re obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Some of the recitations were singularly soft -and harmonious; some came, even upon an uninstructed -ear, with a force and dignity, almost -independent of the sense which they conveyed; some -on the contrary, especially when taken in connexion -with the gestures and intonation of the reciter, were -indescribably ludicrous. Among the former was the -Syriac ode, recited by Joseph Churi, a youth since -known in English literature. Among the latter, the -most curious were a Chinese Eclogue, and a Peguan Dialogue. -The speakers in both cases were natives, and I -was assured by a gentleman who was present at the -exercise, and who had visited China more than once, -that their recitation was a perfect reproduction of the -tone and manner of the native theatre of China.</p> - -<p class="tb">Throughout the entire proceedings Cardinal Mezzofanti -was a most attentive, and evidently an anxious -listener. Every one of the young aspirants to public -favour was personally and familiarly known to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_417"></a>[417]</span> -him. Many of the pieces, moreover, upon these -occasions, were his own composition, or at least revised -by him; and thus, besides his paternal anxiety for -the success of his young friends, he generally had -somewhat of the interest of an author in the literary -part of the performance. It was plain, too, that, for -the young speakers themselves, his Eminence was, in -his turn, the principal object of consideration; and -it was amusing to observe, in the case of one of -the oriental recitations, that the speaker almost appeared -to forget the presence of the general auditory, -and to address himself entirely to the spot where Cardinal -Mezzofanti sate.</p> - -<p>At the close of the exercises, as soon as the interesting -assemblage of the platform broke up, a motley -group was speedily formed around the good-natured Cardinal, -to hear his criticisms, or to receive his congratulations -on the performance; and I then was witness -for the first time of what I saw on more than one -subsequent occasion—the almost inconceivable versatility -of his wonderful faculty, and his power of -flying from language to language with the rapidity -of thought itself, as he was addressed in each in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_418"></a>[418]</span> -succession;—hardly ever hesitating, or ever confounding -a word or interchanging a construction. -Most of the members of the polyglot group which -thus crowded around him and plied him with this linguistic -fusilade, were of course unknown to me; -but I particularly noticed among the busiest of the -questioners, the Chinese youths who had taken part -in their native eclogue, and a strange, mercurial, -monkey-like, but evidently most intelligent lad, whom -I afterwards recognized as one of the speakers in -the Peguan Dialogue.<a id="FNanchor_526" href="#Footnote_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a> I was gratified, too, to see -a gap which I had observed in the programme of the -exercises—the omission of the Russian language—supplied -by his Eminence in this curious after-performance. -A Russian gentleman, who had sate near me -during the evening, now joined the group assembled -around the Cardinal, and good-humouredly complained -of the oversight. His Eminence, without a -moment’s thought, replied to him in Russian;—in -which language a lengthened conversation ensued -between them, with every evidence of ease and -fluency on the part of the Cardinal. Although I -have never since learned the name of this traveller, -I noted the circumstance with peculiar interest at the -time, because he had already established a claim -upon my remembrance, by selecting (without knowing -me as an Irishman,) among all the recitations of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_419"></a>[419]</span> -the evening, as especially harmonious and expressive -in its sounds, the <i>Irish Ode</i>; which had been delivered -with great character and effect by a young student -of the County Mayo.</p> - -<p>During my first visit to Rome, I had heard a great -deal of this curious power of maintaining a conversation -simultaneously with several individuals, and -in many different languages; but I was far from -being prepared for an exhibition of it so wonderful -as that which I have witnessed. I cannot, at this -distance of time, say what was the exact number of -the group which stood around him, nor can I assert -that they all spoke different languages; but making -every deduction, the number of speakers cannot have -been less than ten or twelve; and I do not think -that he once hesitated for a sentence or even for a -word! Many very wonderful examples of the -power of dividing the attention between different -objects have been recorded. Julius Cæsar, if we -believe Pliny, was able to listen with his ears, -read with his eyes, write with his pen, and dictate -with his lips, at the same time. Mordaunt, Earl of -Peterborough, often dictated to six or seven secretaries -simultaneously. Walter Scott, when engaged in his -Life of Napoleon, used to dictate fluently to his amanuensis, -while he was, at the same time, taking down -and reading books, consulting papers, and comparing -authorities on the difficult points of the history which -were to follow. The wonderful powers of the same -kind possessed by Phillidor, the chess-player, too, are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_420"></a>[420]</span> -well known.<a id="FNanchor_527" href="#Footnote_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a> But I cannot think that there is any -example of the faculty of mental self-multiplication, -if it can be thus called, upon record, so wonderful as -that exhibited by Mezzofanti in these, so to speak, -linguistic tournaments, in which he held the lists -against all opponents, not successively, but at once. -Guido Görres, describing the rapidity of his transitions -from one language to another, compares it to “a -bird flitting from spray to spray.” The learned Armenian, -Father Arsenius, speaking of the perfect distinctness -of his use of each, and of the entire absence -of confusion or intermixture, says his change from -language to language “was like passing from one -room into another.” “Mezzofanti himself told me,” -writes Cardinal Wiseman, “that whenever he began -to speak in one tongue, or turned into it from another, -he seemed to forget all other languages except that -one. He has illustrated to me the difficulty he had -to encounter in these transitions, by taking a common -word, such as ‘bread,’ and giving it in several -cognate languages, as Russian, Polish, Bohemian, -Hungarian, &c., the differences being very slight, -and difficult to remember. Yet he never made the -least mistake in any of them.”</p> - -<p>When Rev. John Strain, now of St. Andrew’s, -Dumfries, who assures me that, while he was in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_421"></a>[421]</span> -the Propaganda, he often heard Mezzofanti speak -seven or eight languages in the course of half an -hour, asked him how it was that he never jumbled or -confused them. Mezzofanti laughingly asked in his -turn.</p> - -<p>“Have you ever <i>tried on a pair of green spectacles</i>?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied his companion.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Mezzofanti, “while you wore these -spectacles everything was green to your eyes. It -is precisely so with me. While I am speaking any -language, for instance, Russian, <i>I put on my Russian -spectacles</i>, and for the time, <i>they colour everything -Russian</i>. I see all my ideas in that language alone. -If I pass to another language, <i>I have only to change -the spectacles, and it is the same for that language -also</i>!”</p> - -<p>This amusing illustration perfectly describes the -phenomenon so far as it fell under observation; but, -so far as I am aware, no one has attempted to analyse -the mental operation by which these astounding -external effects were produced. The faculty, whatever -it was, may have been improved and sharpened by -exercise; but there is no part of the extraordinary -gift of this great linguist so clearly exceptional, and -so unprecedented in the history of the faculty of -language.</p> - -<p>A few weeks after the Propaganda academy, I met -his Eminence at the levee of the newly created Cardinal -Cadolini, ex-Secretary of the Sacred Congregation. -Recognizing me at once as “the Maynooth -Professor,” he addressed me laughingly in Irish:<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_422"></a>[422]</span> -<span class="irish">Cion̄us tá tú</span> “How are you?” It has repeatedly been -stated that he knew Irish; and that language is actually -enumerated in more than one published list of -the languages which he spoke. Had it not been for -his own candour on the occasion in question, I -myself should have carried away the same impression -from our interview. But on my declaring my inability -to enter into an Irish conversation, he at once -confessed that, had I been able to go farther, I -should have found himself at fault; as, although he -knew so much as enabled him to initiate a conversation, -and to make his way through a book, he had not -formally studied the Irish language. Nevertheless -that he was acquainted with its general characteristics, -and the leading principles of its inflections and -grammatical structure, its analogies with Gælic, as -well as their leading points of difference, and its general -relations with the common Celtic family, I was -enabled to ascertain in a subsequent interview, in -which I was accompanied by an accomplished Irish -scholar, the late Rev. Dr. Murphy of Kinsale. Dr. -Murphy was much struck with the accuracy and -soundness of his views.</p> - -<p>One of the observations which he made during this -interview was afterwards the occasion of no little -amusement to us. During an audience which Dr. -Murphy, accompanied by Dr. Cullen, then Rector of -the Irish College, had had a few days before with -the Pope, Gregory XVI., a new work of Sir William -Betham, <i>Etruria Celtica</i>—in which an attempt -is made to establish the identity of the -Irish and Etrurian languages, and in which the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_423"></a>[423]</span> -celebrated Eugubian inscriptions are explained as -Irish,—had been presented to the Pope. His holiness, -who was much interested in Etruscan antiquities, -on hearing from Dr. Cullen the nature and -object of the work, had expressed great amusement at -this latest discovery in a matter which had already -been explained in at least a dozen different and conflicting -ways. We mentioned this to the Cardinal.</p> - -<p>“His Holiness is perfectly right,”he replied. “There -is no possible meaning which could not be taken out -of it, if you only grant the licence which these antiquarians -claim. The Eugubian tables, in different -systems,<a id="FNanchor_528" href="#Footnote_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a> have been explained by some as a calendar -of Festivals; by others as a code of laws; by others -as a system of agricultural precepts. It is no wonder -that your Irish author explains them as Irish. -But I will venture to say that, if you only take any -common Italian or Latin sentence, and apply to it -the same system of interpretation, you may explain -it as Irish, and find it make excellent sense.”</p> - -<p>On leaving his Eminence, we resolved to put his -suggestion to the test. We took the first sentence -in the first of F. Segneri’s sermons which opened in -the volume. I have since tried, but in vain, to find -the passage: and I only recollect about it, that it related -to the ardent desire of our Divine Lord, that -the light of his gospel should shine among men. Dr.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_424"></a>[424]</span> -Murphy, without exceeding in the slightest degree -the license which Sir W. Betham allows himself, in -dealing with the Eugubian inscriptions, converted -this Italian sentence into an Irish one, which, to our -infinite amusement, literally rendered, ran as follows: -“In sailing into the harbour, they came to the place -of his habitation; and <i>they took a vast quantity of -large specked trouts, by the great virtue of white Irish -fishing-rods</i>!”</p> - -<p>The Cardinal repeated to Dr. Murphy during this -visit what he had before said, that he did not pretend to -speak Irish, but added that, if he had a little practice, he -would easily acquire it. I had already heard the same -from the Archbishop of Tuam, who knew him on his -first arrival in Rome. I have since been told that, -in the following winter, he formally addressed himself -to the study, with the assistance of the late Rev. -Dr. Lyons of Erris, who was then in Rome; but I -have no means of testing the truth of the statement, -or of ascertaining the extent of his progress.</p> - -<p>This discussion regarding the Irish language naturally -suggested a similar inquiry as to the Cardinal’s -knowledge of the kindred Gælic. The Rev. John -Strain, who knew him in 1832, when he first came -to Rome, informs me that in that year he had no -knowledge whatever of the Gælic language. He got -a friend of Mr. Strain’s to repeat some sentences in it -for him, and expressed a wish to procure some books -for the purpose of learning it. I find from the catalogue -of his library that he did procure a few Gælic -books: and Rev. John Gray of Glasgow, who was a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_425"></a>[425]</span> -student of the Propaganda till the year 1841, informs -me that he at that time knew the language, but -spoke it very imperfectly.<a id="FNanchor_529" href="#Footnote_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a></p> - -<p>An American gentleman whom I met one day in -the Cardinal’s ante-chamber, showed me an impromptu -English couplet which his eminence had just written -for him, on his asking for some memorial of their -interview. I am not able now to recall this distich to -memory; but it is only one of numberless similar -tokens which the Cardinal presented to his visitors -and friends. One of his favourite amusements consisted -in improvising little scraps of verse in various -languages, for the most part embodying some pious -or moral sentiment, which he flung off with the rapidity -of thought, and without the slightest effort. Few of -those which I have seen, indeed, can be said to exhibit -much poetical genius. There is but little trace of -imagination in them, and the sentiments, though -excellent, are generally commonplace enough. But -while, considered as a test of command over the languages -in which they are written, even the most -worthless of them cannot be regarded as insignificant, -there are many of them which are very prettily turned, -and display no common power of versification.</p> - -<p>It is difficult to recover scraps like these, fragmentary -of their own nature, and scattered over every -country of the earth. I have sought in vain for -oriental specimens, although the Cardinal distributed -numbers of them to the students of the Propaganda -at their leaving college. In a sheet of autographs -prefixed to this volume will be found verses in sixteen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_426"></a>[426]</span> -different languages. A few others are given in the -appendix. I shall jot down here two or three specimens -of his classical epigrams which have fallen in -my way.</p> - -<p>Most of them arose out of the very circumstance -of his being asked for such a token of remembrance.</p> - -<p>For instance, on one occasion when the request was -addressed to him <i>in Greek</i>, he wrote:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἑλλάδος ἠρώτας ἐμε ῥήμασιν. Ἑλλάδος ἁυδήν</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἐκχὲω, οὐδ’ ἄλλην χρή ἀπαμειβόμενον.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Οὐ φθόγγος φθόγγοισιν ἀμείβεται, εί μὴ ὁμοῖος,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ συμφώνων γίγνεται ἁρμονίη.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Νῦν δέ τίνα Γνώμην δώσω ἀιτοῦντι; τιν ἄλλην</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἡ—— ’Θεὸν ἐν πάσῃ, δὲι φιλέειν κραδίῃ.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>So again, when a visitor begged him to write <i>his -name</i> in an album, he gave, instead, this pretty -couplet.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Pauca dedi—nomen. Tu sane pauca petisti,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Assiduus sed ego te rogo plura—preces.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In answer to a similar request at another time, he -replied—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Accipe quod poscis—nomen. Scribatur ut ipsum</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In cœlo, ad Dominum tu bone funde preces.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>On being presented on New Year’s day with a pair -of spectacles by his friend, Dr. Peter Trombetti, of -Bologna, he wrote:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Deficit heu acies oculorum! instante senecta;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deficit;—at comis lumina tu duplicas.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lumen utrumque mihi argento dum nocte coruscat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Haud mihi qui dederit decidet ex animo.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_427"></a>[427]</span></p> -<p>A similar present at the next New Year elicited -the following:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Cum vix sufficiunt oculi mihi nocte legenti,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ecce bonus rursum lumina tu geminas.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prospera ut eveniant multis volventibus annis,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cuncta tibi, par est me geminare preces.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>To another of his Bolognese friends, the Canonico -Tartaglia, now rector of the Pontifical seminary, who -begged some memorial, he sent the following pretty -epigram:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sæpe ego versiculos heic dicto, stans pede in uno;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Carmina sed fingo nulla linenda cedro.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Qualiacumque cano velox heu dissipat aura!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unum de innumeris hoc mihi vix superest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mittimus hoc unum interea. Exiguum accipe donum</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eternæ veteris pignus amicitiæ.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Any one who has ever tried to turn a verse in any -foreign tongue, will agree with me in regarding the -rapidity with which these trifles were written, as one -of the most curious evidences of the writer’s mastery -over the many languages in which he is known to -have indulged this fancy. The really pretty Dutch -verses—verses as graceful in sentiment as they are -elegant in language—in reply to Dr. Wap’s address, -were penned in Dr. Wap’s presence and with great -rapidity. Father Legrelle’s Flemish verses were -dashed off with equal quickness. The American of -whom I spoke told me that the Cardinal wrote almost -without a moment’s thought. It was the same for -the lady mentioned by Dr. Wap, although the subject -of these verses arose during the interview; and even<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_428"></a>[428]</span> -the Persian stanza which he wrote for Dr. Tholuck, -and which “contained several pretty ἐνθυμήσεις,” cost -him only about half an hour! How many of those -who consider themselves most perfect in French, -Italian, or German, have ever ventured even upon a -single line of poetry in any of them?</p> - -<p>I must not omit another circumstance which I -myself observed, and which struck me forcibly as illustrating -the singular nicety of his ear, and still -more the completeness with which he threw himself -into all the details of every language which he cultivated;—I -mean his manner and accent in pronouncing -Latin in conversation with natives of different -countries. One day I was speaking to him -in company with Guido Görres, when he had occasion -to quote to me Horace’s line.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Si paulum a summo decessit, vergit ad imum:—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">which he pronounced quite as I should have pronounced -it, and without any of the peculiarities of -Italian pronunciation. He turned at once to Görres, -and added—</p> - -<p>“Or, as you would say:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Si <i>pow</i>lum a <i>soomm</i>o <i>det</i>sessit, ver<i>ghit</i> ad imum,”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">introducing into it every single characteristic of the -German manner of pronouncing the Latin language. -I have heard the same from other foreigners. It was -amusing, too, to observe that he had taken the trouble -to note and to acquire the peculiar expletive or -interjectional sounds, with which, as it is well known, -natives of different countries unconsciously interlard -their conversation, and the absence or misuse<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_429"></a>[429]</span> -of which will sometimes serve to discover the foreign -origin of one who seems to speak a language with -every refinement of correctness.<a id="FNanchor_530" href="#Footnote_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a> The Englishman’s -“ah!” the Frenchman’s “oh!” the whistling interjection -of the Neapolitan, the grunt of the Turk, the -Spaniard’s nasal twang—were all at his command.</p> - -<p>My brief and casual intercourse with the -Cardinal would not entitle me to speak of his character -and disposition, were it not that my impressions -are but an echo of all that has been said and written -before me, of his cheerful courtesy, his open-hearted -frankness, and his unaffected good nature. To all his -visitors of whatever degree, he was the same—gay, -amiable, and unreserved. With him humility was -an instinct. It seemed as though he never thought -of himself, or of any claim of his to consideration. -He would hardly permit the simple mark of respect—the -kissing of the ring which ordinarily accompanies -the salutation of one of high ecclesiastical dignity in -Italy; and his demeanour was so entirely devoid of -assumption of superiority that the humblest visitor -was at once made to feel at home in his company.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_430"></a>[430]</span></p> - -<p>His conversation was uniformly gay and cheerful, -and no man entered more heartily into the spirit of -any little pleasantry which might arise. On one occasion, -upon a melting summer day, as he was shewing -the magnificent Giulio Clovio Dante, in the Vatican -library, to a well-known London clergyman, the latter, -in his delight at one of the beautiful miniatures -by which it is illustrated—a moonlight scene—was in -the act of pointing out <i>with his moist finger</i> some -particular beauty which struck him, when Mezzofanti, -horror-struck at the danger, caught his arm.</p> - -<p>“Softly, my dear Doctor,” he playfully interposed: -“these things may be looked at with the eyes, but -not with the fingers.”</p> - -<p>He delighted, too, in puns, and was equally ready -in all languages. He laughed heartily at Cardinal -Rivarola’s Italian pun against himself, about the -<i>orecchini</i>;<a id="FNanchor_531" href="#Footnote_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a> and one day, while he was speaking German -with Guido Görres, the latter having made some -allusion to his Eminence’s increasing gray hairs, -and spoken of him as a <i>weiss-haar</i> (white-haired,)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_431"></a>[431]</span></p> - -<p>“Ach!” he replied with a gentle smile, not untinged -with melancholy;—“ach! gäbe Gott dass ich, wie -<i>weiss-haar</i>, so auch <i>weiser</i> geworden wäre.”<a id="FNanchor_532" href="#Footnote_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a></p> - -<p>It will easily be inferred from this, that, among -etymologies, he was especially attracted by those which -involved a play upon words:—if they admitted a pun -so much the better. He was much amused by Herr -Fleck’s suggestion, that the name Mezzofanti, was -derived from Ἑν μέσῳ φαίνεται; and Cardinal Wiseman -told me that once, after learnedly canvassing the various -etymologies suggested for Felsina, the ancient name -of his native city, Bologna, he laughingly brought -the discussion to a close by suggesting that probably -it was <i>Fé l’asina</i>, (the ass made it.)</p> - -<p>Probably it was to this taste he was indebted -for that familiarity with Hudibras—a writer, otherwise -so unattractive to a foreigner—which took Mr. -Badeley by surprise.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_432"></a>[432]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.<br> -<span class="smaller">[1843-1849.]</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>In the midst of the honours and occupations of his -new dignity, Cardinal Mezzofanti sustained a severe -affliction in the death of his favourite nephew, Monsignor -Minarelli—the <i>Giuseppino</i> (Joe) so often -commemorated in his early correspondence. This amiable -and learned ecclesiastic instead of accompanying -his uncle to Rome, where the most brilliant prospects -were open to him, preferred to pursue the quiet and -useful career of university life, in which he had -hitherto been associated with him in Bologna. By -successive steps, he had risen to the Rectorate of the -University; and in recognition of his services to that -institution, the honorary dignity of a prelate of the -first class in the Roman Court—popularly styled <i>del -mantelletto</i>—had been conferred on him by the Pope. -The Cardinal, as is plain from his own letters and -those of his Bologna friends, was warmly attached -to him. While he lived in Bologna -Giuseppe was his friend and companion, rather than -his pupil; and the young man’s early death was felt<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_433"></a>[433]</span> -the more deeply by him, from the congeniality of -tastes and studies which had always subsisted -between them.</p> - -<p>The Cardinal’s sister, Teresa, (mother of the deceased -prelate,) although she was ten years his senior, -was still living in their old home at Bologna, and he -continued to correspond with her up to the time of -his death. His letters to her are all exceedingly simple -and unaffected—so entirely of a domestic character, -and without public interest, that, if I translate one of -them here—the latest which has come into my hands—it -is merely as a specimen of the warmth and -tenderness, as well as deeply religious character of the -Cardinal’s affection for his sister and for her children.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“We are on the eve of your Saint’s Day, my dearest sister. -I am to say Mass on that day in the Church of the Servites; but -I shall offer it for you, praying with all the fervor of my heart that -God may long preserve you in health, and console you under -your affliction, and that your holy patroness may protect you, and -obtain for you all the graces of which you stand in need. I wish -to mark the occasion by a little token of my affection, and I have -already written to Gesnalde to transmit it to you. It is a mere -trifle, but I know that you will only look, as you have always -done in past years, to the person it comes from, and that you will -give it value by accepting it, and by corresponding with me in -recommending me, as I do you, to the special favour of the Almighty. -As being my elder sister, you used always, when we -were children, to pray for your little brother; and I know that -you still continue the practice; I am most grateful for it, and I try -to make you every return.</p> - -<p>Your sons, and my niece Anna unite with me in their affectionate -wishes, and beg your blessing. May God bestow his -most abundant blessings on you!”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The history of the later years of the Cardinal’s life<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_434"></a>[434]</span> -presents scarcely any incidents of any special interest. -Few of the reports of the foreigners who met him at -this period, differ in any material particulars from -those which we have already seen. I shall content myself, -therefore, with two or three of them, which may -be taken as specimens of the entire, but which are selected -also with a view to serve in guiding the reader in -his estimate, not merely of the general attainments of -the Cardinal as a linguist, but of his proficiency in -the languages of the writers themselves, and in other -languages, not specially commemorated hitherto.</p> - -<p>We have already passingly alluded to the account -of Mezzofanti given by the Rev. Ingraham Kip, a -clergyman of the Episcopalian Church in America: -but the details into which this gentleman enters, -regarding his Eminence’s knowledge of the English -language and literature, are so important, that it -would be unpardonable to pass them by.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“He is a small lively looking man,” says Mr. Kip, “apparently -over seventy. He speaks English with a slight foreign -accent—yet remarkably correct. Indeed, I never before met -with a foreigner who could talk for ten minutes without using -some word with a shade of meaning not exactly right; yet, in -the <i>long conversation I had with the Cardinal, I detected -nothing like this. He did not use a single expression or word -in any way which was not strictly and idiomatically correct.</i> -He converses, too, without the slightest hesitation, never being at -the least loss for the proper phrase.</p> - -<p>In talking about him some time before to an ecclesiastic, I -quoted Lady Blessington’s remark, ‘that she did not believe he -had made much progress in the literature of these forty-two -languages; but was rather like a man who spent his time in -manufacturing keys to palaces which he had not time to enter;’ -and I inquired whether this was true. ‘Try him,’ said he,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_435"></a>[435]</span> -laughing; and, having now the opportunity, I endeavoured to do -so. I led him, therefore, to talk of Lord Byron and his works, -and then of English literature generally. He gave me, in the -course of his conversation, quite a discussion on the subject -which was the golden period of the English language; and of -course fixed on the days of Addison. He drew a comparison -between the characteristics of the French, Italian, and Spanish -languages; spoke of Lockhart’s translation from the Spanish, -and incidentally referred to various other English writers. He -then went on to speak of American literature, and paid high -compliments to the pure style of some of our best writers. He -expressed an opinion that, with many, it had been evidently -formed by a careful study of the old authors—those ‘wells of -English undefiled’—and, that within the last fifty years we had -imported fewer foreign words than had been done in England. -He spoke very warmly of the works of Mr. Fennimore Cooper, -whose name, by the way, is better known on the continent than -that of any other American author.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>As Mr. Kip, unfortunately, was not acquainted -with any of the Indian languages of North America, -he was unable to test the extent of the Cardinal’s -attainments in these languages. His account, nevertheless, -is not without interest.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“In referring to our Indian languages, he remarked, that the -only one with which he was well acquainted was the Algonquin, although -he knew something of the Chippewa and Delaware; and -asked whether I understood Algonquin; I instantly disowned any -knowledge of the literature of that respectable tribe of Savages; -for I was afraid the next thing would be a proposal that we should -continue the conversation in their mellifluous tongue. He learned -it from an Algonquin missionary, who returned to Rome, and -lived just long enough to enable the Cardinal to begin this study. -He had read the works of Mr. Du Ponceau<a id="FNanchor_533" href="#Footnote_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a> of Philadelphia, on -the subject of Indian languages, and spoke very highly of them.”</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_436"></a>[436]</span></p> - -<p>It is right to add Mr. Kip’s conclusions from -the entire interview, and his impressions regarding -the natural and acquired powers of the great linguist.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“And yet,” he concludes, “<i>all this conversation by no means -satisfied me</i> of the depth of the Cardinal’s literary acquirements. -There was nothing said which gave evidence of more than a superficial -acquaintance with English literature; the kind of knowledge -which passes current in society, and which is necessarily picked -up by one who meets so often with cultivated people of each -country. His acquirements in words are certainly wonderful; -but I could not help asking myself their use. I have never yet -heard of their being of any practical benefit to the world during -the long life of their possessor. He has never displayed anything -philosophical in his character of mind; none of that power of -combination which enables Schlegel to excel in all questions of -philology, and gives him a talent for discriminating and a power -of handling the resources of a language which have never been -surpassed.”<a id="FNanchor_534" href="#Footnote_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>Perhaps the reader will be disposed to regard Mr. -Kip’s criticism as somewhat <i>exigeant</i> in its character; -and to think that, even taking his own report of -his conversation with the Cardinal, and of the number -and variety of the English and American writers, -with whom, and with whose peculiar characteristics, -he was acquainted—some of them, moreover—as for -example, Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads—a translation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_437"></a>[437]</span> -from a foreign language—most unlikely to attract a -“superficial” foreigner, he was a little unreasonable -in refusing “to be satisfied with the depth of the -Cardinal’s literary acquirements.” For my part, I -cannot help thinking this interview, even as recorded -by Mr. Kip, one of the most astonishing incidents in -the entire history of this extraordinary man. And -I may add to what is here stated of his familiarity with -the principal English authors, native and American, -that, as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Gray, of -Glasgow, the Cardinal was also intimately acquainted -with the national literature of Scotland; -that he had read many of the works of Walter -Scott and Burns; and that he understood and was -able to enjoy the Lowland Scottish dialect, which is -one of the great charms of both.</p> - -<p>Mr. Kip’s impressions as to the Cardinal’s want of -skill in the science of language and of its philosophical -bearing on history and ethnology, must be admitted -to have more foundation, and are shared by -several of the scholars who visited him, especially -those who cultivated ethnology as a particular study. -I have reserved for this place a short notice of the -Cardinal, which has been communicated to me by -Baron Bunsen, and which, while it does ample justice -to Mezzofanti’s merits as a linguist, puts a very low -estimate on his accomplishments as a philologer, and -a critic. The reader will gather from much of -what has been already said, that I am far from -adopting this estimate in several of its particulars; -but Baron Bunsen’s opinion upon any question of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_438"></a>[438]</span> -scholarship or criticism is too important to be overlooked.</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I saw him first as Abate and Librarian at Bologna, in 1828, -when travelling through Italy, with the Crown Prince (now King) -of Prussia. When he came to Rome as head librarian to the Vatican, -I have frequently had the pleasure of seeing him in my -house, and in the Vatican. He was always amiable, humane, -courteous, and spoke with equal fluency the different languages -of Europe. His gentleness and modesty have often struck me. -Once, when some misrepresentations of Lady Morgan in her book on -Italy, were mentioned before him with very strong vituperation, -‘Poor Lady Morgan!’ he said, ‘it is not yet given to her to see -truth.’ When complimented by an English lady upon his miraculous -facility in acquiring languages, with the additional observation -that Charles the Fifth had said, ‘as many languages as a -man knows, so many times he is a man,’ he replied, ‘Well, that -ought rather to humble us; for it is essential to man to err, and -therefore, such a man is the more liable to error, if Charles the -Fifth’s observation is true.’</p> - -<p>On the other side, I must confess that I was always struck by the -observation of an Italian who answered to the question: ‘Non è miracoloso -di vedere un uomo parlare quaranta due lingue?’ replied, ‘Si, -senza dubbio; ma più miracoloso ancora è di sentire che questo uomo -in quaranta due lingue non dice <i>niente</i>.’ A giant as a linguist, Mezzofanti -certainly was a child as a philologer and philological critic.</p> - -<p>He delighted in etymologies, and sometimes he mentioned new -and striking ones, particularly as to the Romanic languages and -their dialects. But he could not draw any philosophical or historical -consequences from that circumstance, beyond the first -self-evident elements. He had no idea of philosophical grammar. -I have once seen his attempt at decyphering a Greek inscription, -and never was there such a failure. Nor has he left or published -anything worth notice.</p> - -<p>I explain this by his ignorance of all <i>realities</i>. He remembered -words and their sounds and significations almost instinctively;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_439"></a>[439]</span> -but he lived upon reminiscences: he never had an original thought. -I understood from one of his learned colleagues, (a Roman -Prelate,) that it was the same with his theology; there was no -acuteness in his divinity, although he knew well St. Thomas and -other scholastics.</p> - -<p>As to Biblical Criticism, he had no idea of it. His knowledge of -Greek criticism too was very shallow.</p> - -<p>In short, his linguistic talent was that of seizing sounds and -accents, and the whole (so to say) idiom of a language, and reproducing -them by a wonderful, but equally special, memory.</p> - -<p>I do not think he had ever his equal in this respect.</p> - -<p>But the cultivation of this power had absorbed all the rest.</p> - -<p>Let it, however, never be forgotten that he was, according to all -I have heard from him, a charitable, kind Christian, devout but -not intolerant, and that his habitual meekness was not a cloak, -but a real Christian habit and virtue. Honour be to his memory.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>There is a part of this criticism which is unquestionably -just: but there are also several of the views -from which I am bound to dissent most strongly, and -to which I shall have occasion to revert hereafter. -Meanwhile, that the Cardinal paid more attention to -these inquiries than Mr. Kip and M. Bunsen suppose, -will appear from the testimony of the Abbé Gaume, -author of the interesting work, “<i>Les Trois Rome</i>.”</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“I had often met the illustrious philologer,” says M. Gaume, -“at the Propaganda, where he used to come to spend the afternoon. -Kind, affable, modest, he mixed with the students, and spoke by -turns Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Chinese, and twenty other languages, -with a facility almost prodigious. When I entered, I -found him studying Bas-Breton, and I have no doubt that in a short -time he will be able to exhibit it to the inhabitants of Vannes -themselves. His eminence assured me of two points. The first -is the fundamental unity of all languages. This unity is observable -especially in the parts of speech, which are the same or -nearly so in all languages. The second is the trinity of dialects<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_440"></a>[440]</span> -in the primitive language;—a trinity corresponding with the -three races of mankind. The Cardinal has satisfied himself that -there are but three races sprung from one common stock, as there -are but three languages or principal dialects of one primitive language;—the -Japhetic language and race; the Semitic language -and race; and the Chamitic language and race. Thus the unity -of the human kind and the trinity of races, which are established -by all the monuments of history, are found also to be supported -by the authority of the most extraordinary philologer that has -even been known.</p> - -<p>The Cardinal’s testimony is the more important inasmuch -as his linguistic acquirements are not confined to a superficial -knowledge. Of the many languages which he possesses, there is -not one in which he is not familiar with the every day words, common -sayings, adages, and all that difficult nomenclature which -constitutes the popular part of a language. One day he asked one -of our friends to what province of France he belonged. ‘To Burgundy;’ -replied my friend. ‘Oh!’ said Mezzofanti, ‘you -have two Burgundian dialects; which of them do you speak?’ ‘I -know,’ replied our friend, ‘the patois of Lower Burgundy.’ -Whereupon the Cardinal began to talk to him in Lower Burgundian, -with a fluency which the vine-dressers of Nantes or -Beaune might envy.”<a id="FNanchor_535" href="#Footnote_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>This curious familiarity with provincial <i>patois</i>, -described by the Abbé Gaume, extended to the other -provincial dialects of France. M. Manavit found -him not only acquainted with the Tolosan dialect, -but even not unread in its local literature. His -library contains books in the dialects of Lorraine, -Bearne, Franche Comté, and Dauphiné. I have -already mentioned his speaking Provençal with -Madame de Chaussegros; and Dr. Grant, bishop of -Southwark, told me that he was able, solely by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_441"></a>[441]</span> -accent of the Abbé Carbry, to determine the precise -place of his nativity, Montauban.</p> - -<p>Another language regarding which, although it has -more than once been alluded to, few testimonies have -as yet been brought forward, is Spanish. I shall -content myself, nevertheless, with the evidence of a -single Spaniard, which, brief as it is, leaves nothing -to be desired. “I can assert of his Eminence,” -writes Father Diego Burrueco, a Trinitarian of -Zamora, who knew the Cardinal during many of -these years, “that he spoke our Spanish like a native -of Castile. He could converse in the Andalusian -dialect with Andalusians; he was able, also, to distinguish -the Catalonian dialect from that of Valencia, -and both from that of the Island of Majorca.”<a id="FNanchor_536" href="#Footnote_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a> We -have already seen that, at a very early period of his -life, he studied the Mexican, Peruvian, and other -languages of Spanish America. That he spoke both -Mexican and Peruvian after he came to Rome, Cardinal -Wiseman has no doubt. He is also stated to -have learned something of the languages of Oceanica -from Bishop Pompalier, of New Zealand. I may add -here, though I have failed in finding native witnesses, -that it is the universal belief in Rome that he -spoke well both ancient and modern Chaldee, and -ancient Coptic, as also the modern dialect of Egypt. -He had the repute also of being thoroughly familiar -with both branches of the Illyrian family—the Slavonic -and the Romanic. To the testimonies already -borne to his skill in Armenian and Turkish, I must -add that of the Mechitarist, Father Raphael Trenz, -Superior of the Armenian College in Paris, who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_442"></a>[442]</span> -knew him in 1846. “Having conversed with his -Eminence,” writes this father,<a id="FNanchor_537" href="#Footnote_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a> “in ancient and in modern -Armenian, and also in Turkish, I am able to attest -that he spoke and pronounced them all with the -purity and propriety of a native of these countries.”</p> - -<p>Perhaps also, although we have had many notices -of his skill in Russian and Polish from a very early -period, it may be satisfactory to subjoin the reports -of one or two travellers who conversed with him in -these languages during his latter years.</p> - -<p>To begin with Russian. A traveller of that nation -who twice visited him about this time, cited by Mr. -Watts, describes him as “a phenomenon as yet unparalleled -in the literary world, and one that will -scarce be repeated, unless the gift of tongues be given -anew, as at the dawn of Christianity.”</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Cardinal Mezzofanti,” he writes, “spoke eight languages -fluently in my presence: he expressed himself in Russian very -purely and correctly; but, as he is more accustomed to the style -of books than that of ordinary discourse, it is necessary to use -the language of books in talking with him for the conversation to -flow freely. His passion for acquiring languages is so great, -that even now, in advanced age, he continues to study fresh dialects. -He learned Chinese not long ago; and is constantly visiting -the Propaganda for practice in conversation with its pupils -of all sorts of races. I asked him to give me a list of all the languages -and dialects in which he was able to express himself, and -he sent me the name of <span class="smcap">God</span> written in his own hand, in fifty-six -languages, of which thirty were European, not counting their subdivision -of dialects, seventeen Asiatic, also without reckoning -dialects, five African, and four American. In his person, the confusion -that arose at the building of Babel is annihilated, and all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_443"></a>[443]</span> -nations, according to the sublime expression of Scriptures, are -again of one tongue. Will posterity ever see anything similar? -Mezzofanti is one of the most wonderful curiosities of Rome.”<a id="FNanchor_538" href="#Footnote_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>In the end of the year 1845, Nicholas, the late -Emperor of Russia, (who of course is an authority -also on the Polish language,) came to Rome, on his -return from Naples, where he had been visiting his -invalid Empress. The history of his interview with -the Pope, Gregory XVI., and of the apostolic courage -and candour with which, in two successive conferences, -that great pontiff laid before him the cruelty, injustice, -and impolicy of his treatment of the Catholic subjects -of his empire, is too well known to need repetition -here.<a id="FNanchor_539" href="#Footnote_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a> It was commonly said at the time, -and has been repeated in more than one publication, -that the Pope’s interpreter in this memorable conference -was Cardinal Mezzofanti. This is a mistake. -The only Cardinal present at the interview was the -mild and retiring, but truly noble-minded and apostolic, -Cardinal Acton.</p> - -<p>A few days, however, after this interview, M. -Boutanieff, the Russian minister at Rome, wrote to -request that Cardinal Mezzofanti would wait upon -the Emperor; and a still more direct invitation was -conveyed to him, in the name of the Emperor himself, -by his first aide-de-camp. The Cardinal of -course could not hesitate to comply. Their conversation -was held both in Russian and in Polish. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_444"></a>[444]</span> -Emperor was filled with wonder, and confessed that, in -either of these languages it would be difficult to -discover any trace of foreign peculiarity in the Cardinal’s -accent or manner.<a id="FNanchor_540" href="#Footnote_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a> It is somewhat amusing -to add, that the Cardinal is said to have taken some -exceptions to the purity, or at least the elegance, of -the Emperor’s Polish conversational style.</p> - -<p>As regards the Polish language, however, the year -1845 supplies other and more direct testimonies than -that of the Emperor Nicholas.</p> - -<p>In an extract cited by Mr. Watts from the Posthumous -Works of the eminent Polish authoress, Klementyna -z Tanskich Hoffmanowa, who visited Rome -in the March of that year, it is stated that “the -cardinal spoke Polish well, though with somewhat -strained and far-fetched expressions;” and that he -was master of the great difficulty of Polish pronunciation—that -of the marked <i>l</i>—“although he often -forgot it.” This lady has preserved in her Diary a -Polish couplet, written for her by the Cardinal with -his own hand, under a little picture of the Madonna.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten ogien ktory żyia w sercu twoiem</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O Matko Boża! zapal w sercu moiem.<a id="FNanchor_541" href="#Footnote_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Another, and to the Cardinal far more interesting, -representative of the Polish language appeared in -Rome during the same year. Mezzofanti had long -felt deeply the wrongs of his oppressed fellow-Catholics<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_445"></a>[445]</span> -in Poland and Lithuania. A few months before the -Emperor’s arrival in Rome, they had been brought -most painfully under his eyes by the visit of a refugee -of that vast empire, and a victim of the atrocious -policy which had become its ruling spirit—the heroic -Makrena Mirazylawski, abbess of the Basilian convent -of Minsk, the capital of the province of that name. -The organized measures of coercion by which the -Emperor endeavoured to compel the Catholic population -of Lithuania and Poland, and the other Catholic -subjects of the empire, into renunciation of their -allegiance to the Holy See, and conformity with the -doctrine and discipline of the Russian church, comprised -all the members of the Catholic church in -Russia without exception, even the nuns of the various -communities throughout their provinces. Among -these was a sisterhood of the Basilian order in the -city of Minsk, thirty-five in number. The bishop of -the diocese and the chaplain of the convent, having -themselves conformed to the imperial will, first endeavoured -to bend the resolution of these sisters by blandishment, -but in the end sought by open violence to -compel them into submission. But the nobleminded -sisters, with their abbess at their head, firmly refused -to yield; and, in the year 1839, the entire community -(with the exception of one who died from grief and -terror) were driven from their convent, and marched -in chains to Witepsk, and afterwards to Polosk, where, -with two other communities equally firm in their -attachment to their creed, they were subjected, for -nearly six years, to a series of cruelties and indignities<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_446"></a>[446]</span> -of which it is difficult to think without horror, and -which would revolt all credibility, were they not -attested by authorities far from partial to the monastic -institute.<a id="FNanchor_542" href="#Footnote_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a> Chained hand and foot; flogged; -beaten with the fist and with clubs; thrown to the -earth and trampled under foot; compelled to break -stones and to labour at quarries and earthworks; -dragged in sacks after a boat through a lake in the -depth of winter; supplied only with the most loathsome -food and in most insufficient quantity; lodged -in cells creeping with maggots and with vermin; fed -for a time exclusively on salt herrings, without a -drop of water; tried, in a word, by every conceivable -device of cruelty;—the perseverance of these heroic -women is a living miracle of martyr-like fidelity. -Nine of the number died from the effects of the -excessive and repeated floggings to which, week after -week, they were subjected, three fell dead in the -course of their cruel tasks; two were trampled to -death by their drunken guards; three were drowned -in these brutal <i>noyades</i>; nine were killed by the -falling of a wall, and five were crushed in an excavation, -while engaged in the works already referred -to; eight became blind; two lost their reason; -several others were maimed and crippled in various -ways; so that, in the year 1845, out of the three -united communities (which at the first had numbered -fifty-eight) only four, of whom Makrena was the chief,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_447"></a>[447]</span> -retained the use of their limbs! These heroines -of faith and endurance contrived at last to -effect their escape from Polosk, from which place it -had been resolved to transport them to Siberia; and, -through a thousand difficulties and dangers, Makrena -Mirazylawski made her adventurous way to Rome.</p> - -<p>The sufferings and the wrongs of this interesting -stranger found a ready sympathy in Cardinal Mezzofanti’s -generous heart. He listened to her narrative -with deep indignation, and took the liveliest interest -in all the arrangements for her safe and fitting reception -and that of her companions.</p> - -<p>I was naturally anxious to hear what, on the other -hand, were the abbess’s impressions of the cardinal. -In reply to the inquiries of my friend, Rev. Dr. -Morris, she “spoke of him in the very highest terms.” -“He was,” she said, “a living saint,” and she described -both his charity and his spirituality as very remarkable. -When Father Ryllo (the Jesuit Rector of the -Propaganda before F. Bresciani) left Rome for the -African Mission, Cardinal Mezzofanti became Mother -Makrena’s director, and continued to be so for two -years. “He spoke Polish,” she declares, “like a -native of Poland, and wrote it with great correctness.” -Having ascertained that the abbess had had a considerable -packet of papers written by him in Polish, -generally on those occasions when he could not come -to her as usual, on various spiritual subjects, I was -most anxious to obtain copies of them; but I was -deeply mortified to learn that they were all unfortunately<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_448"></a>[448]</span> -lost in the Revolution, when she was driven -out of her little convent near Santa Maria Maggiore. -This humble community was afterwards increased by -the arrival of other fugitives from different parts of -the Russian Empire; nor did the cardinal cease till -the very last days of his life his anxious care of all -their spiritual and temporal interests.</p> - -<p>Another religious institution to which he devoted -a good deal of his time was the House of Catechumens, -of which, as has already been stated, he was Cardinal -Protector. When M. Manavit was in Rome the -inmates of this establishment, then in preparation for -baptism, were between thirty and forty, several of -whom were Moors or natives of Algeria; and there -are few who will not cordially agree with him<a id="FNanchor_543" href="#Footnote_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a> in -looking upon “the modest Cardinal, catechism in hand, -in the midst of this humble flock, as a nobler picture, -more truly worthy of admiration, than delivering his -most learned dissertation on the Vedas to the most -brilliant company that ever assembled in the halls of -the Propaganda.”</p> - -<p>In this, and in more than one other charitable institution -of Rome, the Cardinal took especial delight in assisting -at the First Communion of the young inmates; -and, from the simple fervour of his manner and the genuine -truthfulness of his piety, he was most happy and -effective in the little half hortatory, half ejaculatory -discourses, called <i>Fervorini</i>, which in Rome ordinarily, -on occasions of a First Communion, precede the actual -administration of the sacrament.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_449"></a>[449]</span></p> - -<p>M. Manavit adds that, even after Mezzofanti became -cardinal, his old character of <i>Confessario dei Forestieri</i> -(“Foreigners’ Confessor”) was by no means a sinecure. -To many of the Polish exiles, clergy and laity, who -visited or settled in Rome, he acted as director, -especially after Father Ryllo’s departure to Africa. -He was equally accessible to low and high degree. -M. Mouravieff<a id="FNanchor_544" href="#Footnote_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a> (the Russian traveller already cited) -mentions an instance in which, having heard of a -poor servant maid, a young Russian girl, who desired -to be received into the Church, he paid her repeated -visits, instructed her in the catechism, and himself -completed in person every part of her preparation -for the sacraments.</p> - -<p class="tb">The death of Pope Gregory XVI., (June 1st, 1846) -which, although in a ripe old age, was at the time -entirely unexpected, was a great affliction to Mezzofanti, -whose affectionate relations with him were maintained -to the very last. The Cardinal was, of course, a -member of the conclave in which (June 16th) -Pius IX. was elected. The speedy and unanimous -agreement of the Cardinals in this election—one of -the few which seemed to convert the traditional form -of “election by inspiration,” into a reality—was commemorated -impromptu by him in the following -graceful epigram:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Gregorius cœlo invectus sic protinus orat:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Heu cito Pastorem da, bone Christe, gregi!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Audit; et immissus pervadit pectora Patrum,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spiritus: et Nonus prodiitecce Pius!<a id="FNanchor_545" href="#Footnote_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_450"></a>[450]</span></p> - -<p>During the pontificate of Gregory XVI., Cardinal -Mezzofanti never held any office of state; nor did -the change of sovereign make any change in his -rank or his occupations. He was, of course, continued -by the new government in all his appointments; and -the new Pope, Pius IX., regarded him with the same -friendship and favour which he had enjoyed at the -hands of his predecessor. In the social and political -changes which ensued, Mezzofanti, from his non-political -character, had no part. No one sympathized more -cordially with the beneficent intentions of his Sovereign; -but, completely shut out as he was by his position -from political affairs, he pursued his quiet -career, with all its wonted regularity, through the very -hottest excitement of the eventful years of 1847 and -1848.</p> - -<p>Many visitors who conversed with him in these, -the last years of his life, have repeated to me the -accounts which have already become familiar from the -reports of those who knew him in earlier years. The -fulfilment of his public duties as Cardinal;—the care of -the institutions over which an especial charge had -been assigned him;—the confessional, whenever his -services were sought by a foreigner;—above all, his -beloved pupils in the Propaganda—these formed for -him the business of life.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_451"></a>[451]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p>“Almost every evening, when I was in the College of the Propaganda,” -says F. Bresciani, “he would come to exercise himself with these -dear pupils, who are collected there from all nations of the world, -to be educated in sacred and profane literature and in the apostolic -spirit. Then, as he conversed with me in the halls of the Propaganda -when the pupils were returning from their evening walks, -he would go to meet them as he saw them coming up the steps, -and, as they passed him, would say something to them in their -own languages; speaking to one, Chinese; to another, Armenian; -to a third, Greek; to a fourth, Bulgarian. This one he would -accost in Arabic, that, in Ethiopic, Geez, or Abyssinian; now he -would speak in Russian, then in Albanian, in Persian, in Peguan, -in Coptic, in English, in Lithuanian, in German, in Danish, in -Georgian, in Kurdish, in Norwegian, in Swedish. Nor was there -ever any risk that he should get entangled, or that a word of -another language or a wrong pronunciation should escape him.”<a id="FNanchor_546" href="#Footnote_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a>...</p> - -<p>“Every year, from the time of his coming to Rome, even after -he had been made Cardinal, he used to assist the students in -composing their several national odes for the Polyglot Academy -of the Propaganda, which is held during the octave of the Epiphany, -and in which the astonished foreigners who witness it behold -a living emblem of the unity of the Catholic Church, which -alone is able, through the Holy Spirit that vivifieth her, to show -forth in one fraternity the union of all tongues, in praising and -blessing the Lord who created us and redeemed us by the blood -of Jesus Christ. Now the Cardinal, in these fifty tongues and -upwards, in which the pupils composed, would make all the necessary -corrections whether of thought, metre, or phrase, with all, -and perhaps more than all, the facility and exactness of others in -writing poetry in their native tongue. After he had corrected the -compositions, he would take his beloved pupils, one by one, and -instruct them in the proper mode of reciting and pronouncing -each. And, as some of them occasionally had entered college<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_452"></a>[452]</span> -when very little boys, and had forgotten some of the tones or cadence -of their native languages, he would come to their aid by -suggesting these, testing and correcting them with the utmost -gentleness and patience.”<a id="FNanchor_547" href="#Footnote_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>It would be out of place here to enter into any -detail of the startling and violent changes by which -these tranquil occupations were rudely interrupted. -The Cardinal had watched with deep anxiety the -gradually increasing demands with which each successive -generous and confiding measure of the administration -of Pius IX. had been met; but even his -sagacious mind, schooled as it had already been in the -vicissitudes of former revolutions, was not prepared -for the succession of terrible events which crowded -themselves into the last few weeks of the “year of revolution”—the -furious demands of the clubs—the expulsion -of the Jesuits—the assassination of De Rossi—the -obtrusion of a republican ministry—the flight of -the Pope—the proclamation of the Republic. Amid all -the terrors of the time, he had but one thought—gratitude -for the safety of the Pope. He was urged by his -friends to imitate the example of the main body of the -Cardinals, and to follow his Sovereign to Gaeta or -Naples; but he refused to leave Rome, and continued -through all the scenes of violence which followed the -flight of Pius IX., to live, without any attempt at concealment, -at his old quarters in the Palazzo Valentiniani.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, although, personally, Cardinal Mezzofanti -suffered no molestation, the alarm and anxiety -inseparable from such a time, could not fail to tell upon -a constitution, at no time robust, and of late years<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_453"></a>[453]</span> -much enfeebled. From the beginning of the year -1849, his strength began sensibly to diminish. It -was characteristic of the man that even all the terrors -of the period could not make him forget his favourite -festival of the Epiphany; and that, among the numberless -more deplorable changes which surrounded him, -he still had a regret for the absence of the accustomed -Polyglot Academy of the Propaganda. Before the -middle of January he became so weak, that it was -with the utmost difficulty he was able to say mass -in his private chapel. While he was in this state -of extreme debility, he was seized with an alarming -attack of pleurisy; and although the acute symptoms -were so far relieved at the end of January, that his -family entertained sanguine hopes of his recovery, -this illness was followed, in the early part of February, -by an attack of gastric fever, by which the slender -remains of his strength were speedily exhausted.</p> - -<p>The venerable sufferer at once became sensible of -his condition. From the very first intimation of his -danger, he had commenced his preparation for death, -with all the calm and simple piety which had characterised -his life. In accordance with one of our -beautiful Catholic customs—at once most holy in -themselves, and an admirable help even to the sublimest -piety—he at once entered upon a <i>Novena</i>, or -nine days’ devotion, to St. Joseph; who, as, according -to an old tradition, his own eyes were closed in death -by the blessed hands of his divine Saviour, has been -adopted by Catholic usage as the Patron of the Dying, -and who was besides the name-saint and especial<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_454"></a>[454]</span> -Patron of the Cardinal himself. In these pious exercises -he was accompanied by his chaplain, by -his nephews, Gaetano and Pietro, and above all, by -his niece, Anna, who was most tenderly attached to -him, and was inconsolable at the prospect of his death. -He himself fixed the time for receiving the Holy -Viaticum and the Extreme Unction. They were administered -by Padre Ligi, parish priest of the Church -of SS. Apostoli, assisted by the Cardinal’s chaplain, -and by his confessor, Padre Proja, now Sacristan of -St. Peter’s. The chaplain and the members of his -family frequently assembled at his bed-side, to accompany -and assist him in his dying devotions; and the -intervals between these common prayers, in which all -alike took part, were filled up with pious readings -by Anna Minarelli, and with short prayers of the -holy Cardinal himself. “Dio mio! abbiate pietà di -me!” “My God, have mercy on me!”—was his -ever recurring ejaculation, mingled occasionally -with prayers for the exiled Pontiff, for the welfare -of his widowed Church, and for the peace of his -distracted country. “<i>Abbiate pietà della Chiesa! -Preghiamo per lei!</i>”</p> - -<p>By degrees he became too feeble to maintain his -attention through a long prayer; but even still, with -that deeply reverent spirit which had always distinguished -him, he would not suffer the prayer to be -abruptly terminated. “<i>Terminiamo con un Gloria -Patri</i>,” “Let us finish with a Gloria Patri:”—he would -say, when he found himself unable longer to attend to -the Litany of the Dying, or the Rosary of the Blessed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_455"></a>[455]</span> -Virgin. But in a short time he would again summon -them to resume their devotion.</p> - -<p>Early in March it became evident that his end was -fast approaching. He still retained strength by -energy enough to commence a second Novena to his -holy Patron St. Joseph—a pious exercise, which, in -the simple words of his biographer, “he was destined -to bring to an end in heaven.” During the last three -days of life, his articulation, at times, was barely -distinguishable; but even when his words were inaudible, -his attendants could not mistake the unvarying -fervour of his look, and the reverent movements -of the lips and eyes, which betokened his unceasing -prayer. From the morning of the 15th of March, -the decline of strength became visibly more rapid; -and, on the night of that day, he calmly expired.<a id="FNanchor_548" href="#Footnote_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a> His -last distinguishable words, a happy augury of his blessed -end—were: “<i>Andiamo, andiamo, presto in Paradiso.</i>” -“<i>I am going—I am going—soon to Paradise!</i>”</p> - -<p>The absence of the Roman Court, as well as the -other unhappy circumstances of the times, precluded -the possibility of performing his obsequies with the -accustomed ceremonial. An offer of the honours of -a public funeral, with deputations from the university, -and an escort of the National Guard, was made -by M. Gherardi, the Minister of Public Instruction -in the new-born Republic. But these, and all other -honours of the anti-Papal Republic, were declined by -his family;—not only from the unseemliness of such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_456"></a>[456]</span> -a ceremonial at such a time, but still more as inconsistent -with the loyalty, and the personal feelings, -principles, and character, of the illustrious deceased.</p> - -<p>Without a trace, therefore, of the wonted solemnities -of a cardinalitial funeral—the <i>cappella ardente</i>; -the lofty catafalque; the solemn lying in state; -the grand <i>Missa de Requiem</i>;—the remains of the great -linguist were, on the evening of the 17th of March, -conducted unostentatiously, with no escort but that -of his own family and of the members of his modest -household, bearing torches in their hands, to their -last resting-place in Sant’ Onofrio, on the Janiculum—the -church of his Cardinalitial title.</p> - -<p>There, within the same walls which, as we saw, enclose -the ashes of Torquato Tasso, the tomb of Cardinal -Mezzofanti may be recognised by the following unpretending -inscription, from the pen of his friend Mgr. -Laureani:—</p> - -<p class="center">HEIC. IN. SEDE. HONORIS. SUI.<br> -SITUS. EST.<br> -JOSEPHUS. MEZZOFANTI. S. R. E. CARD.<br> -INNOCENTIA. MORUM. ET. PIETATE. MEMORANDUS.<br> -ITEMQUE. OMNIUM. DOCTRINARUM.<br> -AC. VETERUM. NOVORUMQUE. IDIOMATUM.<br> -SCIENTIA.<br> -PLANE. SINGULARIS. ET. FAMA. CULTIORI. ORBI.<br> -NOTISSIMUS.<br> -BONONIAE. NATUS. ANNO. MDCCLXXIV.<br> -ROMAE. DECESSIT. AN. MDCCCXLVIIII.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_457"></a>[457]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.<br> -<span class="smaller">(RECAPITULATION.)</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p>We have now before us, in the narrative of Cardinal -Mezzofanti’s life, such materials for an estimate of -his attainments as a linguist and a scholar, as a most -diligent and impartial inquiry has enabled me to -bring together. I can truly say that in no single instance -have I suffered my own personal admiration -of his extraordinary gifts to shape or to influence that -inquiry. I have not looked to secure a verdict by -culling the evidence. A great name is but tarnished -by unmerited praise—<i>non eget mendacio nostro</i>. I -have felt that I should consult best for the fame of -Mezzofanti, by exhibiting it in its simple truth; and -I have sought information regarding him, fearlessly -and honestly, in every field in which I saw a prospect -of obtaining it,—from persons of every class, -country, and creed—from friendly, from indifferent, -and even from hostile quarters;—from all, in a word, -without exception, whom I knew or thought likely to -possess the means of contributing to the solution of -the interesting problem in the annals of the human -mind, which is involved in his history.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_458"></a>[458]</span> -It only remains to sum up the results. Nor is it easy -to approach this duty with a perfectly unbiassed mind. -If, on the one hand, there is a temptation to heighten -the marvels of the history, viewed through what Carlyle -calls “the magnifying <i>camera oscura</i> of tradition,” -on the other, there is the opposite danger of unduly -yielding to incredulity, and discarding its genuine facts -on the sole ground of their marvellousness. I shall endeavour -to hold a middle course. I shall not accept -any of the wonders related of Mezzofanti, unless -they seem attested by undisputable authority: but -neither shall I, in a case so clearly abnormal as his, -and one in which all ordinary laws are so completely -at fault, reject well-attested facts, because they may -seem irreconcilable with every-day experience. Our -judgments of unwonted mental phenomena can hardly -be too diffident, or too circumspect. The marvels of -the faculty of memory which we all have read of; -the prodigies of analysis which many of us have -witnessed in the mental arithmeticians who occasionally -present themselves for exhibition; the very vagaries -of the senses themselves, which occasionally follow -certain abnormal conditions of the organs—are -almost as wide a departure from what we are accustomed -to in these departments, as is the greatest marvel -related of Mezzofanti in the faculty of language. Perhaps -there could not be a more significant rebuke of this -universal scepticism, than the fact that the very event -which Juvenal, in his celebrated sneer at the tale of</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Velificatus Athos, et quidquid Græcia mendax</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Audet in historiâ—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_459"></a>[459]</span></p> - -<p class="noindent">has selected as the type of self-convicted mendacity—the -passage of Xerxes’s fleet through Mount Athos—now -proves to be not only possible, but absolutely -true; and it is wisely observed by Mr. Grote, that, -while no amount of mere intrinsic probability is -sufficient to establish the truth of an unattested statement, -on the other hand, “statements in themselves -highly improbable may well deserve belief, provided -they be supported by sufficient positive evidence.” -(<i>Hist. of Greece</i>, I. 571.)</p> - -<p class="tb">There are two heads of inquiry which appear to -me specially deserving of attention.</p> - -<p>First, the number of languages with which Cardinal -Mezzofanti was acquainted, and the degree of -his proficiency in each.</p> - -<p>Secondly, his method of studying languages, and -the peculiar mental development to which his extraordinary -success as a linguist is attributable.</p> - -<p>I.—I wish I could begin, in accordance with a -suggestion of my friend M. d’Abbadie, by defining -exactly what is meant by <i>knowledge</i> of a language. -But unfortunately, the shades of such knowledge are -almost infinite. The vocabularies of our modern -languages contain as many as forty or fifty thousand -words; and Claude Chappe, the inventor of the telegraph, -calculates, that for the complete expression -of human thought and sentiment in all its forms, -at least ten thousand words are necessary. On -the other hand, M. d’Abbadie, in his explorations -in Abyssinia, was able to make his way without an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_460"></a>[460]</span> -interpreter, though his vocabulary did not comprise -quite six hundred words; and M. Julien, in his -controversy with Pauthier, asserts that about four -thousand words will amply suffice even for the study of -the great classics of a language, as Homer, Byron, -or Racine.</p> - -<p>Which of these standards are we to adopt?</p> - -<p>And even if we fix upon any one of them, -how shall we apply it to the Cardinal, whereas we -can only judge of him by the reports of his visitors, -who applied to him, each a standard of his own?</p> - -<p>It is plain that any such strict philosophical notion, -however desirable, would be inapplicable in -practice. It appears to me, however, that the objects -of this inquiry will be sufficiently attained by -adopting a popular notion, founded upon the common -estimation of mankind. I think a man may -be truly said to know a language thoroughly, if he -can read it fluently and with ease; if he can write -it correctly in prose, or still more, in verse; and -above all, if he be admitted by intelligent and educated -natives to speak it correctly and idiomatically.</p> - -<p>I shall be content to apply this standard to Cardinal -Mezzofanti.</p> - -<p class="tb">Looking back over the narrative of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s -life, we can trace a tolerably regular progress -in the number of languages ascribed to him through its -several stages. In 1805, according to Father Caronni, -“he was commonly reported to be master of more -than twenty-four languages.” Giordani’s account of -him in 1812, seems, although it does not specify any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_461"></a>[461]</span> -number, to indicate a greater total than this. -Stewart Rose, in 1817, speaks of him as “reading -twenty languages, and conversing in eighteen.” Baron -von Zach, in 1820, brings the number of the languages -spoken by him up to thirty-two. Lady Morgan -states, that by the public report of Bologna he was -reputed to be master of forty. He himself, in 1836, -stated to M. Mazzinghi that he knew forty-five; and -before 1839, he used to say that he knew “fifty, and -Bolognese.” In reply to the request of M. Mouravieff, -a little later, that he would give him a list of -the languages that he knew, he sent him a sheet -containing the name of God in fifty-six languages. -In the year 1846 he told Father Bresciani that he -knew seventy-eight languages and dialects;<a id="FNanchor_549" href="#Footnote_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a> and a -list communicated to me by his nephew, Dr. Gaetano -Minarelli, by whom it has been compiled after a diligent -examination of his deceased uncle’s books and -papers, reaches the astounding total of one hundred -and fourteen!</p> - -<p>It is clear, however, that these, and the similar statements -which have been current, require considerable -examination and explanation. It is much to be regretted -that the Cardinal did not, with his own hand, draw -up, as he had often been requested, and as he certainly -intended, a complete catalogue of the languages -known by him, distinguishing, as in the similar -statement left by Sir William Jones, the degrees of -his knowledge of the several languages which it comprised. -In none of the statements on the subject<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_462"></a>[462]</span> -which are in existence, is any attempt made to discriminate -the languages with which he was familiar from -those imperfectly known by him. On the contrary, from -the tone of some of his panegyrists, it would seem that -they wish to represent him as equally at home in all;—a -notion which he himself, in his conversations with -Lady Morgan, with Dr. Tholuck, with M. Mazzinghi, -and on many subsequent occasions, distinctly repudiated -and ridiculed. In his statement to Father -Bresciani, in 1846, the Cardinal did not enumerate -the seventy-eight languages and dialects which he -knew or had studied; but in the year before his -death, 1848, he told Father Bresciani that he was -then engaged in drawing up a comparative scheme -of languages, their common descent, their affinities, -and their ramifications; together with a simple and -easy plan for acquiring a number of languages, -however dissimilar.<a id="FNanchor_550" href="#Footnote_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> At my request, Father -Bresciani kindly applied to Dr. Minarelli, the nephew -and representative of the deceased, for a copy of this -interesting paper; but unfortunately no trace of it -is now discoverable, and Dr. Minarelli supposes that, -as was usual with him when dissatisfied with any of -his compositions, the Cardinal burnt it before his -death.</p> - -<p>During the course of this search, however, Dr. -Minarelli himself was led to draw up, partly from his -own knowledge of his uncle’s attainments, partly -from the inspection of his books and papers, a detailed -list of the languages with which he believes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_463"></a>[463]</span> -the Cardinal to have been acquainted. This list he -has kindly communicated to me. From its very -nature, of course, it is to a great extent conjectural; -it makes no pretension to a scientific classification of -the languages; and it contains several evident oversights -and errors; but as the writer, in addition to his -long personal intercourse with his uncle, enjoyed the -opportunity of access to his papers and memoranda, -and above all to his books in various languages, his -grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies, and the marginal -notes and observations—the schemes, paradigms, -critical analyses, and other evidences of knowledge, or -at least of study—which they contain; and as he has -been mainly guided by these in the compilation of his -list of languages, I shall translate the paper in its integrity, -merely correcting certain obvious errors, and -striking out a few of the items in the enumeration, in -which, clearly by mistake, the same language is -twice repeated. The order of languages is in part -alphabetical.</p> - -<ul> -<li>1. Albanese or Epirote.</li> -<li>2. Arabic.</li> -<li>3. Armenian.</li> -<li>4. Angolese.</li> -<li>5. Aymara.</li> -<li>6. Algonquin.</li> -<li>7. Brazilian.</li> -<li>8. Mexican.</li> -<li>9. Paraguay.</li> -<li>10. Peruvian.</li> -<li>11. Birman.</li> -<li>12. Bohemian.</li> -<li>13. Bunda, (in Angola.)</li> -<li>14. Betoi.</li> -<li>15. <i>Baure</i>,<a id="FNanchor_551" href="#Footnote_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a> (?)</li> -<li>16. <i>Braubica</i>,<a id="FNanchor_552" href="#Footnote_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a> (?)</li> -<li>17. Chaldee.</li> -<li>18. Chinese.</li> -<li>19. Cochin-Chinese.</li> -<li>20. Tonkinese.</li> -<li>21. Japanese.</li> -<li>22. Curaçao.</li> -<li>23. Coptic.</li> -<li>24. Chilian.</li> -<li>25. Koordish.</li> -<li>26. Californian.</li> -<li>27. Cora.</li> -<li>28. <i>Conserica</i>,<a id="FNanchor_553" href="#Footnote_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a> (?)<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_464"></a>[464]</span></p></li> -<li>29 <i>Cahuapana</i>.<a id="FNanchor_554" href="#Footnote_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a> (?)</li> -<li>30 Canisiana.</li> -<li>31 Cayubaba.</li> -<li>32 Cochimi.</li> -<li>33 Danish.</li> -<li>34 Swedish.</li> -<li>35 Norwegian.</li> -<li>36 Icelandic.</li> -<li>37 Lappish.</li> -<li>38 Tamul.</li> -<li>39 Hebrew.</li> -<li>40 Rabbinical Hebrew.</li> -<li>41 Samaritan.</li> -<li>42 Coptic Egyptian.</li> -<li>43 Coptic Arabic.<a id="FNanchor_555" href="#Footnote_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a></li> -<li>44 Etruscan<a id="FNanchor_556" href="#Footnote_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a> (so far as known to the learned.)</li> -<li>45 Ethiopic.</li> -<li>46 <i>Emabellada</i>.<a id="FNanchor_557" href="#Footnote_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a> (?)</li> -<li>47 Phenician, (so far as it is known.)</li> -<li>48 Flemish.</li> -<li>49 French.</li> -<li>50 Breton French.</li> -<li>51 Lorraine Dialect.</li> -<li>52 Provençal.</li> -<li>53 Gothic and Visi Gothic.</li> -<li>54 Ancient Greek.</li> -<li>55 Romaic.</li> -<li>56 Georgian or Iberian.</li> -<li>57 Grisons, or Rhetian.</li> -<li>58 Guarany.</li> -<li>59 Guariza.</li> -<li>60 Illyrian.</li> -<li>61 Iberian.<a id="FNanchor_558" href="#Footnote_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a></li> -<li>62 <i>Idioma Mistico.</i><a id="FNanchor_559" href="#Footnote_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a></li> -<li>63 Itomani.</li> -<li>64 Cingalese.</li> -<li>65 Hindostani.</li> -<li>66 Malabar.</li> -<li>67 Malay.</li> -<li>68 Sanscrit.</li> -<li>69 Sanscrit Dialect of Eastern Persia.</li> -<li>70 English.</li> -<li>71 Ancient Breton.<a id="FNanchor_560" href="#Footnote_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a></li> -<li>72 Scottish Celtic.<a id="FNanchor_561" href="#Footnote_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a></li> -<li>73 Scotch.</li> -<li>74 Irish.</li> -<li>75 Welsh.</li> -<li>76 Italian.</li> -<li>77 Friulese.</li> -<li>78 Maltese.</li> -<li>79 Sardinian.</li> -<li>80 Lombard, Ligurian, Piedmontese, Sicilian & Tuscan dialect of Italian.</li> -<li>81 Latin.</li> -<li>82 Maronite and Syro-Maronite. (?)</li> -<li>83 Madagascar.</li> -<li>84 Mobima.</li> -<li>85 Moorish.</li> -<li>86 Maya.</li> -<li>87 Dutch.</li> -<li>88 Othomi.</li> -<li>89 Omagua.</li> -<li>90 Australian.<a id="FNanchor_562" href="#Footnote_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a></li> -<li>91 Persian.</li> -<li>92 Polish.</li> -<li>93 Portuguese.</li> -<li>94 Peguan.<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_465"></a>[465]</span></p></li> -<li>95 Pimpanga.<a id="FNanchor_563" href="#Footnote_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a></li> -<li>96 Quichua.<a id="FNanchor_564" href="#Footnote_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a></li> -<li>97 Russian.</li> -<li>98 <i>Rocorana</i> (?)<a id="FNanchor_565" href="#Footnote_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a></li> -<li>99 Slavonic.</li> -<li>100 Slavo-Carniolan.</li> -<li>101 Slavo-Servian.</li> -<li>102 Slavo-Ruthenian.</li> -<li>103 Slavo-Wallachian.</li> -<li>104 Syriac.</li> -<li>105 Samogitian, or Lettish.</li> -<li>106 Spanish.</li> -<li>107 Catalonian.</li> -<li>108 Basque.</li> -<li>109 Tanna.<a id="FNanchor_566" href="#Footnote_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a></li> -<li>110 German.</li> -<li>111 Tibetan.</li> -<li>112 Turkish.</li> -<li>113 Hungarian.</li> -<li>114 Gipsy.</li> -</ul> - -<p>Such is the Cavaliere Minarelli’s report of the result -at which he has arrived, after an examination of -the books and manuscripts of his illustrious uncle. In -its form, I regret to say, it is far from satisfactory. -It places on exactly the same level languages generically -distinct and mere provincial varieties of dialect. -In one or two instances, also, (as Angolese and -Bunda, Swedish and Norwegian,) the same language -appears twice under different names. Above all, the -compiler has not attempted to classify the languages -according <i>to the degree of the Cardinal’s acquaintance -with each of them</i>; nor has he entered into -any explanation of the nature of the evidence -of acquaintance with each of them which is supplied -by the documents upon which he relies.<a id="FNanchor_567" href="#Footnote_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_466"></a>[466]</span></p> - -<p>As I cannot, consistently with the fundamental -principle of this inquiry, accept such a statement, -when unsupported by the testimony of native (or -otherwise competent) witnesses for the several languages, -as conclusive evidence of the Cardinal’s -knowledge of the languages which it ascribes to him, -I shall merely offer this otherwise interesting paper -at whatever may be considered its just value; and I -shall endeavour to decide the question upon grounds -entirely independent of it, and drawn solely from the -materials which I have already placed before the reader.</p> - -<p>It will, no doubt, have been observed that, so far as -regards the reports of the travellers and others who -conversed with the Cardinal, the degrees of his power -of speaking the several languages have been very differently -tested. In some languages he was, as it were, -perpetually under trial: in others, very frequently, and -in prolonged conversations; in others, less frequently, -but nevertheless searchingly enough; in others, in -fine, perhaps only to the extent of a few questions and -answers. It is absolutely necessary, in forming any -judgment, to attend carefully to this circumstance. -I shall endeavour, therefore, to divide the languages -ascribed to him into four different classes.</p> - -<p>First, languages certainly spoken by Cardinal -Mezzofanti with a perfection rare in foreigners.</p> - -<p>Secondly, languages which is he said to have spoken -well, but as to which the evidence of sufficient trial is -not so complete.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_467"></a>[467]</span></p> - -<p>Thirdly, languages which he spoke freely, but less -perfectly.</p> - -<p>Fourthly, languages in which he could merely -express himself and initiate a conversation. I shall -add:—</p> - -<p>Fifthly, certain other languages which he had -studied from books, but does not appear to have -spoken.</p> - -<p>And lastly, dialects of the principal languages. This -order, of course, precludes all idea of a scientific -classification<a id="FNanchor_568" href="#Footnote_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a> of the languages according to families.</p> - -<p>I.—<i>Languages frequently tested, and spoken with rare excellence.</i><a id="FNanchor_569" href="#Footnote_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a></p> - -<ul> -<li>1 Hebrew, (Supra, p. 283, 341, 345, 371.)</li> -<li>2 Rabbinical Hebrew, (283, 341.)</li> -<li>3 Arabic, (283, 371, 441.)</li> -<li>4 Chaldee, (278, 384, 362, 451.)</li> -<li>5 Coptic, (311, 441, 451.)</li> -<li>6 Ancient Armenian, (352, 441.)</li> -<li>7 Modern Armenian, (352, 441.)</li> -<li>8 Persian, (278, 352, 394.)</li> -<li>9 Turkish, (226, 311, 393, 441.)</li> -<li>10 Albanese, (362, 393, 451.)</li> -<li>11 Maltese, (336, 362.)</li> -<li>12 Greek, (353.)</li> -<li>13 Romaic, (353.)</li> -<li>14 Latin, (201, 347.)</li> -<li>15 Italian, (<i>passim.</i>)</li> -<li>16 Spanish, (276, 312, 441.)</li> -<li>17 Portuguese, (337, 367.)</li> -<li>18 French, (271, 276, 387.)</li> -<li>19 German, (239, 250, 271, 277, 281, 325, 345, 346, 393.)</li> -<li>20 Swedish, (271, 272, 350, 351.)</li> -<li>21 Danish, (239, 281.)</li> -<li>22 Dutch, (328, 330, 332.)</li> -<li>23 Flemish, (324, 328.)</li> -<li>24 English, (223, 226, 228, 348, 403.)</li> -<li>25 Illyrian, (393, 441.)</li> -<li>26 Russian, (244, 442, 443.)</li> -<li>27 Polish, (328, 444, 447.)</li> -<li>28 Czechish, or Bohemian, (246, 233.)</li> -<li>29 Magyar, (242, 389, 391.)</li> -<li>30 Chinese, (309, 310, 365, 368, 369, 451.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>II.—<i>Stated to have been spoken fluently, but hardly sufficiently tested.</i></p> - -<ul> -<li>1 Syriac, (354, 364.)</li> -<li>2 Geez, (383, 385, 394.)</li> -<li>3 Amarinna, (384, 385, 334.)</li> -<li>4 Hindostani, (364, 366.)</li> -<li>5 Guzarattee, (367.)</li> -<li>6 Basque, (393, 388.)</li> -<li>7 Wallachian, (216, 244.)</li> -<li>8 Californian, (355-7.)</li> -<li>9 Algonquin, (360-1.).</li> -</ul> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_468"></a>[468]</span></p> - -<p>III. <i>Spoken rarely, and less perfectly.</i></p> - -<ul> -<li>1 Koordish, (394, 451.)</li> -<li>2 Georgian, (251, 394.)</li> -<li>3 Servian (the dialects of Bosnia and of the Bannat,) (394.)</li> -<li>4 Bulgarian, (365, 393, 441.)</li> -<li>5 Gipsy language, (244.)</li> -<li>6 Peguan, (364, 418, 451.)</li> -<li>7 Welsh, (320, 322, 323.)</li> -<li>8 Angolese, (370, 394.)</li> -<li>9 Mexican, (441.)</li> -<li>10 Chilian, (441.)</li> -<li>11 Peruvian, (441.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>IV. <i>Spoken imperfectly;—a few sentences and conversational forms.</i></p> - -<ul> -<li>1 Cingalese, (363.)</li> -<li>2 Birmese, (270, 463.<a id="FNanchor_570" href="#Footnote_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a>)</li> -<li>3 Japanese, (463.)</li> -<li>4 Irish, (442.)</li> -<li>5 Gælic, (424.)</li> -<li>6 Chippewa Indian, (360.)</li> -<li>7 Delaware, (360.)</li> -<li>8 Some of the languages of Oceanica, (441.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>V. <i>Studied from books, but not known to have been spoken.</i></p> - -<ul> -<li>1 Sanscrit, (291, 394.)</li> -<li>2 Malay, (464.)</li> -<li>3 Tonquinese, (463.)</li> -<li>4 Cochin-Chinese, (463.)</li> -<li>5 Tibetan, (465.)</li> -<li>6 Japanese, (463.)</li> -<li>7 Icelandic, (464.)</li> -<li>8 Lappish, (394.)</li> -<li>9 Ruthenian, (311.)</li> -<li>10 Frisian, (282.)</li> -<li>11 Lettish, (394, 451.)</li> -<li>12 Cornish, (old British of Cornwall,) (280.)</li> -<li>13 Quichua, (ancient Peruvian,) (281.)</li> -<li>14 Bimbarra, (Central African,) (281.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>VI.—<i>Dialects spoken, or their peculiarities understood.</i></p> - -<p>1.—HEBREW.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Samaritan, (416.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>2.—ARABIC.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Syrian dialect (fluently, 371.)</li> -<li>Egyptian do., (311.)</li> -<li>Moorish, (171.)</li> -<li>Berber, (463.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>3.—CHINESE.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Kiang-Si dialect, (416.)</li> -<li>Hu-quam do., (416.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>4.—ITALIAN.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Sicilian, (324, 354.)</li> -<li>Sardinian, (158-9.)</li> -<li>Neapolitan, (324.)</li> -<li>Bolognese, (247, 344.)</li> -<li>Lombard, (464.)</li> -<li>Friulese, (464.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>5.—SPANISH</p> - -<ul> -<li>Catalan, (441.)</li> -<li>Valencian, (441.)</li> -<li>Majorican, (441.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>6.—BASQUE.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Labourdain, (387-8.)</li> -<li>Souletin, (387.)</li> -<li>Guipuscoan, (388.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>7.—MAGYAR.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Debreczeny, (391.)</li> -<li>Eperies, (391.)</li> -<li>Pesth, (391.)</li> -<li>Transylvanian, (491.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>8.—GERMAN.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Ancient Gothic, (464.)</li> -<li>Rhetian (Grisons,) (Appendix.)</li> -<li><i>Sette Communi</i> dialect, (218.)<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_469"></a>[469]</span></p></li> -<li>Dialects of Northern and Southern Germany, (243.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>9.—FRENCH.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Provençal, (275.)</li> -<li>Tolosan, (440.)</li> -<li>Burgundian, (444.)</li> -<li>Gascon, (463.)</li> -<li>Bearnais, (440.)</li> -<li>Lorraine, (463.)</li> -<li>Bas Breton, (439.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>10.—ENGLISH.</p> - -<ul> -<li>Somersetshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire dialects, (404.)</li> -<li>Lowland Scotch, (437.)</li> -</ul> - -<p>I should add that many of these dialects, as the -Moorish and Berber Arabic, the Spanish of Majorca, -the Provençal French, the Italian of Sicily and Sardinia, -and the language of the Grisons or Graubünden, -might most justly be described as separate languages, -at least as regards the difficulty of acquisition. In -the catalogue of the Cavaliere Minarelli a series of -languages (the very names of which the reader -probably never has heard,) are enumerated, chiefly of -the central and South American families—of the former, -the Cora, the Tepehuana, the Mistek, the Othomi, -the Maya; of the latter, the Paraguay, the Omagua, -the Aymara, the Canisiana, and the Mobima. I am -not aware of the authority on which the Cavaliere -relies in reference to these languages. For the -majority of them, I must say that I cannot find in -the catalogue of the Cardinal’s library any distinct -trace whatever of his having studied them; but it is -certain that he had given his attention early to the -languages of these countries; that he had opportunities -in Bologna of conversing with ex-Jesuit missionaries -from the central and South American provinces; -and that the library of the Propaganda, of which he -had the unrestricted use, contains many printed and -manuscript elementary works in languages of which -little trace is elsewhere to be found.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_470"></a>[470]</span></p> - -<p>Summing up, therefore, all the authentic accounts -of him as yet made public; discarding the loose -statements of superficial marvel-mongers, and divesting -the genuine reports, as far as possible, of -the vagueness by which many of them have been -characterized, it appears that, in addition to a -large number of (more than thirty) minor dialects, -Mezzofanti was acquainted in various degrees with -seventy-two languages, popularly, if not scientifically, -regarded as distinct:—almost the exact number which -F. Bresciani ascribes to him; that of these he spoke -with freedom, and with a purity of accent, of vocabulary, -and of idiom, rarely attained by foreigners, -no fewer than thirty; that he was intimately -acquainted with all the leading dialects of these; -that he spoke less perfectly, (or rather is not shown -to have possessed the same mastery of) nine others, -in all of which, however, his pronunciation, at least, -is described as quite perfect; that he could, (and occasionally -did,) converse in eleven other languages, -but with what degree of accuracy it is difficult to -say; that he could at least initiate a conversation, -and exchange certain conversational forms in eight -others; and that he had studied the structure and -the elementary vocabularies of fourteen others. As -regards the languages included in the latter categories, -it is quite possible that he may also have spoken -in a certain way some at least among them. So far -as I have learned, there is no evidence that he -actually did speak any of them: but with him there -was little perceptible interval between knowledge of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_471"></a>[471]</span> -the elementary structure and vocabulary of a language, -and the power of conversing in it.</p> - -<p>Such is the astounding result to which the united -evidence of this vast body of witnesses, testifying -without consent, and indeed for the most part utterly -unknown to each other, appears irresistibly to lead. I -am far, I confess, from accepting in their strict letter -many of the rhetorical expressions of these writers—the -natural result of warm admiration, however just -and well founded. I do not believe, for example, that -in each and all the thirty languages enumerated in the -first category, the Cardinal actually spoke, as some of -the witnesses say, “with all the purity and propriety -of a native;” that he could not in any one of -them “be recognized as a foreigner;” or that, in them -all, he “spoke without the slightest trace of peculiar -accent.” On the contrary, I know that, in several of -these, he made occasional trips. I do not overlook the -“four minor mistakes” in his German conversation -with Dr. Tholuck; nor his occasionally “forgetting -the marked <i>l</i> in his Polish,” nor the criticism of his -manner in several other languages, as “formed rather -from books than from conversation.” Neither do I -believe that he had mastered the <i>entire</i> vocabulary -of each of these languages. Nor shall I even venture -to say to what point his knowledge of the several -vocabularies extended. So far from shutting out from -my judgment the drawbacks on the undiscriminating -praise heaped upon the Cardinal by some of his -biographers, which these criticisms imply, I regard -them as (by recalling it from the realm of legend,)<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_472"></a>[472]</span> -forming the best and most secure foundation of a -reputation which, allowing for every drawback, far -transcends all that the world has ever hitherto known. -I do not say that in all these languages, or perhaps -in any of them, Cardinal Mezzofanti was the perfect -paragon which some have described him; but, reverting -to the standard with which I set out, I -cannot hesitate to infer from these united testimonies, -that his knowledge of each and every one of the -leading languages of the world, ancient and modern, -fully equalled, and in several of these languages excelled, -the knowledge of those who are commonly reputed -as accomplished linguists in the several languages, -even when they have devoted their attention to the -study of one or other of these languages exclusively. I -do not say that he was <i>literally faultless</i> in speaking -these languages; nor that what I have said is literally -true of <i>each and every one</i> of the thirty that have -been enumerated: but, if the attestations recorded in -this volume have any meaning, they lead to the inevitable -conclusion, that in the power of speaking the -languages in which he was best tried,—whether Hebrew, -or Arabic, or Armenian, or Persian, or Turkish, -or Albanese, or Maltese, or Greek, or Romaic, or Latin, -or Italian, or Spanish, or Portuguese, or French, or -Swedish, or Danish, or Dutch, or Flemish, or English, -or Russian, or Bohemian, or Magyar, or Chinese;—his -success is entirely beyond suspicion, and will bear -comparison with that of the most accomplished non-native -masters of these languages, even those who -have confined themselves to one or two of the number.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_473"></a>[473]</span> -For the few languages upon which I myself -may presume to speak, I most unhesitatingly adopt -this conclusion, comparing my recollections of the -Cardinal with those I retain of almost any other -foreigner whom I have ever heard speak the same -languages.</p> - -<p>The reader’s recollection of the attainments of the -most remarkable linguists enumerated in the memoir -prefixed to this biography will enable him, therefore, to -see how immeasurably Cardinal Mezzofanti transcends -them all. Taking the very highest estimate which -has been offered of their attainments, the list of those -reputed to have possessed more than ten languages is -a very short one. Only four—Mithridates, Pico of -Mirandola, Jonadab Alhanar, and Sir William Jones—are -said, in the loosest sense, to have passed the limit -of twenty. To the first two fame ascribes twenty-two, -to the last two twenty-eight languages. Müller, -Niebuhr, Fulgence Fresnel, and perhaps Sir John -Bowring, are usually set down as knowing twenty -languages. For Elihu Burritt, Csoma de Körös, -their admirers claim eighteen. Renaudot, the controversialist, -is said to have known seventeen, Professor -Lee sixteen, and the attainments of the older linguists, -as Arias Montamus, Martin del Rio, the converted -Rabbi Libertas Cominetus, the Admirable Crichton—are -said to have ranged from this down to ten or -twelve—most of them the ordinary languages -of learned and of polite society. It is further to be -observed that in no one of those cases has the evidence -been examined, the trustworthiness of the witnesses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_474"></a>[474]</span> -considered, or the degrees of knowledge of the various -languages ascertained. Whatever of doubt rests even -upon the vaguest statements regarding Mezzofanti, -applies with double force in every one of the above -instances.</p> - -<p>But even putting these considerations aside, and accepting -the estimates upon the showing of the parties -themselves or their admirers, how far does the very -highest of them fall short of what has been demonstrated -of Cardinal Mezzofanti!</p> - -<p class="tb">II. On the curious question as to the system pursued -by the Cardinal in the study of languages, I regret -to say that little light seems now obtainable. The -variety of systems employed by students is endless. -The eccentric linguist, Roberts Jones, described in -the Introductory Memoir, as soon as he had an -opportunity of comparing the vocabulary of a new -language with those which he had already studied, -proceeded by <i>striking out of it</i> all those words which -were common to it with any of the languages already -familiar to him, and then impressing on his memory -<i>the words which remained</i>. M. Antoine d’Abbadie -told me that, in the unwritten languages with which -he had to deal, his plan was to write out, with the -aid of an interpreter, a list of about five hundred of -the leading and most indispensable words, and a few -conversational forms; and then to complete his stock -of words “by the assistance of <i>an intelligent child who -knew no language but the one which he was studying</i>;—because -children best understand, and most readily<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_475"></a>[475]</span> -apprehend, an imperfectly conveyed meaning.” Some -students commence with the vocabulary; others, with -the structural forms of a language. With some the -process is tedious and full of labour: others proceed -with almost the rapidity of intuition. In comparing -the various possible systems, it has not unnaturally -been supposed that the process which, in Cardinal -Mezzofanti, led to results so rapid and so extraordinary, -might be usefully applied, at least in some -modified form, to the practical study of languages, -even on that modest scale in which they enter into -ordinary education. But unfortunately, even if such -a fruit could be hoped from his experience, it does -not appear that the Cardinal possessed any extraordinary -secret, or at least that he ever clearly explained -to any of his visitors the secret process, if any, which -he employed. One thing at least is certain, and -should not be forgotten by those who are always on -the look out for short roads to learning, that, whatever -may have been his system, and however it may have -quickened or facilitated the result for him, it did not -enable him to dispense with the sedulous and systematic -use of all the ordinary appliances of study, and -especially of every available means for the acquisition -of vocabularies, and of practice in their exercise.</p> - -<p>It is true he told M. Libri that he found the learning -of languages “less difficult than is generally -thought: that there is but a limited number of -points to which it is necessary to direct attention; -and that, when one is master of these points, the -remainder follows with great facility;” adding that,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_476"></a>[476]</span> -“when one has learned ten or a dozen languages -essentially different from each other, one may, with a -little study and attention, learn any number of them.” -But he also stated to Dr. Tholuck “that his own -way of learning new languages was no other than -that of our school-boys, by writing out paradigms and -words, and committing them to memory.” (P. 278.) -Dictionaries, reading-books, catechisms, vocabularies, -were anxiously sought by him, and industriously used. -The society and conversation of strangers was -eagerly—in one less modest and simple it might -almost appear obtrusively—courted, and turned to -advantage. A constant and systematic habit of translation -and composition both in prose and verse was -maintained. In a word, nothing can be clearer than -that with Mezzofanti, as with the humblest cultivators -of the same study, the process of acquiring each -new language was, if not slow, at least laborious; -and that, with all his extraordinary gifts, the eminence -to which he attained, is in great part to be -attributed to his own almost unexampled energy, -and to the perseverance with which he continued to -cultivate these gifts to the very latest day of his life. -He understood thoroughly, as all who have ever attained -to eminence have understood, the true secret of -study—economical and systematic employment of -time. The great jurist D’Aguesseau composed one of -his most valuable works in the scraps of time which -he was able to save from his wife’s unpunctuality in -the hour of dinner. Mezzofanti made it a rule, even -amid his most frequent and most distracting occupations,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_477"></a>[477]</span> -to turn to account every chance moment in -which he was released from actual pressure. No matter -how brief or how precarious the interval, his -books and papers were generally at hand. And even -when no such appliance of study were within reach his -active and self-concentrated mind was constantly engaged. -He possessed a rare power of self-abstraction, -by which he was able to concentrate all his -faculties upon any language which he desired to pursue, -to the exclusion of all the others that he knew. In this -respect he was entirely independent of books. When -the great mathematician, Euler, became blind, he was -able to form the most complicated diagrams, and to -resolve the most intricate calculations, in his mind. -Every one has heard, too, of cases like that of the -prisoner described by Pope:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Who, locked from ink and paper, scrawls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With desperate charcoal on his darkened walls.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">But Mezzofanti’s power of mental study was even -more wonderful. He had the habit of <i>thinking when -alone, in each and all of his various languages</i> in -succession; so that, without the presence of a second -individual, he almost enjoyed the advantage of practice -in conversation! The only parallel for this extraordinary -mental phenomenon that I know, is a -story which I have somewhere read, of a musician -who attained to great perfection as an instrumental -performer, although hardly ever known to touch an -instrument for the purpose of practice. This man, -it is said, was <i>constantly practising in his mind</i>; -and his fingers were actually observed to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_478"></a>[478]</span> -always in motion, as though engaged in the act of -playing.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, it is certain that Mezzofanti’s -power of acquiring languages was mainly a gift of -nature. It is not easy to say in what this natural -gift consisted. Among the faculties of the mind -chiefly employed in acquiring language—perception, -analysis, judgment, and memory—by some it has been -placed in his intuitive quickness of perception—by -others in his memory—and by others, in his power -of analysing the leading inflexional and structural -characteristics by which each language is distinguished. -Others place it in some mysterious delicacy -of his ear, which detected in each language a -sort of rhythm or systematic structure, and thus -supplied a key to all its forms. But no one of these -characteristics, taken singly, even in its very highest -development, will account for a success so entirely -unexampled. Almost all great linguists, it is true, -have been remarkable for their powers of memory; -but there are many examples of such memory, unaccompanied -by any very peculiar excellence in the -gift of languages. Still less can it be ascribed exclusively -to any quickness of perception, or any perfection -of analytic or synthetic power. Perhaps -there is no form in which these powers are so wondrously -displayed, as in the curious phenomena of -mental arithmetic. And yet I am not aware that any -of the extraordinary mental calculators has been distinguished -as a linguist. On the contrary, many of -them have been singularly deficient in this respect.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_479"></a>[479]</span> -Mr. George Bidder, one of the latest, and in many respects -most creditable, examples of this faculty, confesses -his entire deficiency in talent for literature or language; -and Zachariah Dase, whose performances as a -calculator almost exceeded all belief, could never -master a word of any foreign language except a little -German.</p> - -<p>But in Cardinal Mezzofanti we meet not only each -of these qualities, but a most perfect and perfectly -balanced union of them all. His memory in itself -would have made him an object of wonder. Quick -and tenacious to a degree certainly not inferior to -any recorded example of the faculty, it was one of the -most universal in its application of which any record -is preserved; embracing every variety of subject—not -alone the vocabularies and forms which he -acquired, but every kind of matter to which it was -directed; history, poetry, and even persons and -personal occurrences. But there was, above all, one -characteristic in which it was distinguished from -almost all other memories. Some of those qualities already -named were possessed by other individuals in an -equal, if not a greater or more striking, degree. -Henderson, the player, was said to be able to repeat -the greater part of the most miscellaneous contents -of a newspaper after a single reading; and the -mental arithmetician just named, Zachariah Dase, -after <i>dipping</i> his eye over a row of twelve figures, -could repeat them backwards and forwards, and in -every other order, and could multiply them instantaneously -by one or two figures at pleasure. Some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_480"></a>[480]</span> -memories too possessed this faculty entirely independent -of the judgment or the reasoning powers. Père -Menestrier was able to repeat a long jumble of unmeaning -names after hearing them but once, and the -young Corsican mentioned by Padre Menocchio could -do the same, even after the lapse of an entire year! -But the perfection of Mezzofanti’s memory was different -from all these, and consisted in its <i>extraordinary -readiness</i>. Sir W. Hamilton, in one of his notes on -Reid, happily reviving an old view of Aristotle, distinguishes -between <i>memory</i> (μνημή) and <i>reminiscence</i>, -(ἀνάμνησις)—between spontaneous and elaborated memory—memory -of intuition, and memory of evolution. -In Mezzofanti the latter hardly appears to have had -a place. His memory seems to have acted by intuition -alone. It was not only a rare capacity for storing -up and retaining the impressions once made upon -it, no matter how rapid and how various, but a power -of holding them <i>distinct from each other</i>, and ready -for instant use. And thus, over the vast and various -assortment of vocabularies which he possessed, he enjoyed -a control so complete, that he would draw upon -each and all at pleasure, as the medium for the expression -of his thoughts;—just as the experimentalist, -by the shifting of a slide, can change, instantaneously -and at will, the colour of the light with which -he illuminates the object of exhibition. Dugald -Stewart tells the case of a young woman who could -repeat an entire sermon after a single hearing, and -whose sole trick of memory consisted in connecting in -her mind each part of the discourse with a part of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_481"></a>[481]</span> -the ceiling. It would almost seem as if the memory -of Mezzofanti had some such local division into compartments, -in which the several vocabularies <i>could</i>, -as it were, <i>be stored apart</i>, and through which his -mind could range at pleasure, culling from each the -objects or words which it desired, no matter how -various or how unconnected with each other.</p> - -<p>With such a memory as this to guide its action, -and to supply the material for its operation, the extraordinary -and almost intuitive power of analysis—something -in its own order like what Wollaston called -in William Phillips, the “mathematical sense”—which -Mezzofanti possessed, and which enabled him at -once to seize upon the whole system of a language—form, -structure, idiom, genius, spirit—led by a process -which it is easy to understand, to the wonderful -results which this great linguist accomplished. Memory -supplied the material with unfailing abundance -and regularity. The analytic faculties were the tools -which the mind employed in operating upon the -material thus supplied for the use.</p> - -<p>Such appears to have been the mental process. -But for the practical power of speaking the languages -thus mastered in theory, Mezzofanti was also indebted -to his singularly quick and delicate organization -of ear and tongue. It might seem that the former -of these organs could only enter as a very subordinate -element, and in a purely mechanical way, -into the faculty of speech. Indeed the French journals -of the past month, (February, 1858,) contain -an account of a deaf and dumb man, M. Moser, who (of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_482"></a>[482]</span> -course entirely unaided by ear,) has mastered, besides -Greek and Latin, no fewer than fourteen modern languages. -But, strange as this may seem, it is certain -that in Mezzofanti’s case the ear, in addition to its -direct and natural use in comprehending and catching -up the sounds of languages, and appreciating -all their delicate varieties and shades, (in which it is -admitted to have been ready and infallible beyond -all precedent,) had a nobler, and as it were, more intellectual -function; that its office was a thing of mind -as well as of organization; that he possessed, as it -were, <i>an inner and higher sense</i>, distinct from the -<i>material organ</i>; and that the impressions which this -sense conveyed, helped him to the structure and the -philosophical character of language, as well as to its -rhythm, its vocal sounds, and its peculiar intonations. -It is difficult to explain the exact mental operation, -by which this curious result was attained; but the -Cardinal himself repeatedly declared his consciousness -of such an operation, and ascribed to it, in a great -degree, the rapidity and the ease with which he overcame -what to others form the main difficulty in the -study of a language, and with which, having once -made the first step in each language, he mastered, as if -by intuition, all the mysteries of its structural system.</p> - -<p>Another element of his wonderful talent was his -genuine enthusiasm and the unpretending simplicity -of his character. “Pretension,” says Emerson, “may -sit still, but cannot act.” There was no pretension -about Mezzofanti; nor had he anything of that morbid -intellectual sensitiveness which shrinks from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_483"></a>[483]</span> -first blunders to which a novice in a foreign language -is exposed, and which restrains many from -the attempt to speak, by the very apprehension of -failure.<a id="FNanchor_571" href="#Footnote_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a> Children, as is well known, learn to speak -a language more rapidly than their elders. I cannot -doubt that Mezzofanti’s child-like simplicity and innocence, -were among the causes of his wonderful success -as a speaker of many tongues.</p> - -<p class="tb">It was not to be expected that a man so eminent -in one absorbing pursuit should have made a very -distinguished figure in general literature or science. -Among the many laudatory reports of him which are -contained in this volume, a few will be found which -hardly concede to him even a second-rate place as a -scholar, still less as a philologer. In some of the -literary circles of Rome, Mezzofanti was not popular. -M. Libri<a id="FNanchor_572" href="#Footnote_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a> alludes to one source of unfriendly feeling -in his regard. There is another which may perhaps -have already struck the reader. From some of -the facts noticed in the Introductory Memoir of German -linguists<a id="FNanchor_573" href="#Footnote_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> and from other incidental allusions, -the reader will have observed a certain tendency on -the part of philologers to depreciate the pursuit of -linguists, and to undervalue its usefulness; and it -is precisely from the philologers that this low estimate -of Mezzofanti proceeds. It is only just, however,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_484"></a>[484]</span> -to Baron Bunsen, who is pre-eminently the head -of the German school of that science, to admit that -he carefully draws the distinction between the two -branches of the study of language—that of the linguist, -and that of the philologer. And although -the natural preference which a student unconsciously -gives to his own favourite pursuit, no doubt leads -him to attach little value to what Mezzofanti knew, -and to dwell more on what in his opinion he did not -know, yet it must be said that he gives him full credit -for his unexampled power as a linguist.</p> - -<p>The Baron’s recollections, nevertheless, contain a -summary of the strictures upon the literary character -of Mezzofanti, which were current during his lifetime—that -his learning was merely superficial—that -in the phrase of the late Mr. Francis Hare, “with the -keys of the knowledge of every nation in his hand, -he never unlocked their real treasures;” that in all the -countless languages which he spoke he “never said -anything;” that he left no work or none of any -value behind him; that he was utterly ignorant of -philology; that his theology was mere scholasticism; -that he had no idea of Biblical criticism, and -that even as a critical Greek scholar, he was very -deficient.</p> - -<p>It would be a very mistaken zeal for the honour -of Cardinal Mezzofanti to deny the literal truth of -several of these criticisms. Most of the branches of -knowledge in which he is here represented as deficient, -are in themselves the study of an ordinary life. -To have added them all to what he really did possess,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_485"></a>[485]</span> -would have been a marvel far exceeding the greatest -wonder that has ever been ascribed to him; nor was -any one more ready than the modest Cardinal himself, -not merely to admit many particulars in which his -learning was defective, but even to disparage the -learning which he actually possessed. He confessed -over and over again, that he was no philologer—that -he was nothing but “an ill bound dictionary.” He -expressed his regret to Guido Görres, that he had -begun his studies at a time when this science was -not cultivated. He lamented the weakness of his -chest and other constitutional infirmities, which -prevented him from writing. He deplored to Cardinal -Wiseman, that, when he should be gone, he -would have left behind him no trace of what he knew.</p> - -<p>But, notwithstanding his own modest estimate of -himself, I think enough will be found in the testimonies -of many unsuspected witnesses embodied in this -Memoir, to shew that the depreciating strictures, to -which I have here alluded, are grievously exaggerated. -Cardinal Mezzofanti certainly was not a scientific -philologer; but the Abbé Gaume’s memorandum proves -that, while he had little taste for the mere speculative -part of the subject—for those</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Cloud-built towers by ghostly masons wrought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On shadowy thoroughfares of thought—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">he was fully sensible of the true use of the science, -and had not neglected the study, especially in its -most important aspect—its bearing upon religious -history. He was not a professed archæologist. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_486"></a>[486]</span> -may have failed in the interpretation of the particular -Greek inscription, to which Baron Bunsen refers; -nor did he pursue Greek criticism as a special study. -But his friends Cavedoni and Laureani, themselves -accomplished archæologists, entertained the highest -respect for his judgment in that study. The Abate -Matranga bore ample witness to the depth and -accuracy of his Greek scholarship; and I myself, in -the few observations which I heard him offer on the -Eugubian inscriptions, was struck by the sagacity, the -precision, and the suggestive spirit which they evinced.</p> - -<p>Far more unjust, however, are Mr. Hare’s remark -about the keys, and the still more disparaging saying, -quoted by Baron Bunsen, which describes Mezzofanti -as, “with all his forty-two languages, never saying -anything.” The numberless reports of visitors at -every period of his life, from Mr. Stewart Rose, in -1817, downwards, which are detailed in this volume, -put entirely beyond question both his capacity and -his actual attainments in general literature. Each visitor, -for the most part, found him well acquainted with -the literature of his own country. Very many of -them (as Baron Glucky de Stenitzer for Hungary<a id="FNanchor_574" href="#Footnote_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a>) -bear witness to his familiarity with their national -histories. His conversation with M. Libri, “on the -most difficult points in the history of India,” evinced -a mind of a very different calibre from what these -supercilious criticisms suppose: and, from the historian -of the Mathematical Sciences, it is no ordinary compliment -towards one with whom these can have been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_487"></a>[487]</span> -but a subordinate study, that, without a moment’s -preparation, (the subject having been only casually -introduced by M. Libri,) he “spoke for half-an-hour -on the astronomy and mathematics of the Indian -races, in a manner which would have done honour to -a man whose chief occupation had been tracing the -history of the sciences.”<a id="FNanchor_575" href="#Footnote_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a> I must dissent strongly, -also, from the disparaging opinion that M. Bunsen -expresses as to the Cardinal’s capacity for the more -strictly professional sciences of Biblical criticism and -Theology. M. Bunsen, no doubt, when he speaks of -Biblical criticism, speaks mainly of the German -School of that science, and very probably of the last -and most popular critic, Lachmann. Now, with all their -merits, there is much in the spirit and the language -of many of these writers, and, I may specially say, of -Lachmann, against which Mezzofanti’s whole mind -would have revolted; and I can well understand that, -between his opinions and those of the Baron regarding -them, there would have been but little sympathy. -But it is most unjust to Mezzofanti to say that “he -had no idea” of the subject. One of his earliest literary -friends was the great Biblical scholar and critic, -De Rossi. While he was still professor at Bologna, -the Abate Cavedoni, of Modena, spoke with high -praise of his ability as a biblical critic. The Abate -Mellini, professor of Scripture in Bologna, gratefully -acknowledges the assistance which he derived from -him in reference to the versions of the Bible: and Cardinal -Wiseman, who will not be suspected of undervaluing -any branch of Biblical science, told me that, -although it is quite true that Mezzofanti had no love<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_488"></a>[488]</span> -for the German critics, and though he never was a -professed critic himself, he was nevertheless quite -conversant with the science, and understood its -history and its principles, and the divisions of MMS., -recensions, families, &c., perfectly well.</p> - -<p>As to Theology, his reputation in Rome was not -high. Yet his attainments, especially in moral theology, -were considered respectable. The readers of Sir -W. Hamilton will not look on the charge of “scholasticism” -as any very grave disparagement; but I must -add that neither did Mezzofanti neglect the modern -divines, even those outside of Italy. With Guido -Görres he spoke of Möhler’s well-known <i>Symbolik</i>, -although it was at that period but little known beyond -the limits of Germany.</p> - -<p>As a preacher, Mezzofanti, though earnest and -impressive, never was in any way remarkable. He -confined himself chiefly to the duty of catechetical -instruction; and in Rome his only efforts as a -preacher, were the short and simple exhortations -addressed to children at the time of admitting them -to their first Communion—a duty of the ministry -which was especially dear to him.</p> - -<p>The truth is, that all these criticisms of Mezzofanti, -and the impressions as to the superficial character of -his acquirements which they embody, have emanated -for the most part from casual visitors, who saw him -but for a brief space, and whose opportunity of testing -his knowledge was probably limited to a few -questions and answers, in a language not his own; -the main object of the visit being, not to sound the -depth or accuracy of his knowledge in itself, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_489"></a>[489]</span> -merely the fluency and correctness of his manner of -speaking the language in which the visitor desired to -try him. Whereas, on the contrary, those who bear -witness to the solidity of his information and the -vast range of his knowledge, are those who knew him -long and intimately; who met him as a friend and companion, -not as an object of curiosity, and of wonder; -and whose estimate of him was founded upon the -impressions of familiar and every-day intercourse—the -only safe test of character or of acquirements.</p> - -<p class="tb">There is more truth in the strictures upon Mezzofanti -as a writer. In this respect, indeed, he is known -very little; for his only published composition, the -Panegyric of Father Aponte, and the fugitive poetical -exercises in the appendix of this Memoir, can -hardly be said to place him in the category of authors. -Unhappily, indeed, the spirit of authorship is, with -many, a question rather of temperament than of ability. -In some it is the very breath of their life—an actual -necessity of existence. To others it is a barren and -ungrateful labour—undertaken with reluctance, and -pursued without satisfaction. Southey used to say, -that he never felt fully master of himself and of all -his unclouded faculties, till he found himself seated -at his desk. The current of his thoughts never -flowed freely except through his pen. On the contrary, -Magliabecchi—the living library—the <i>helluo -librorum</i>—never could prevail on himself to publish -a single line! Unfortunately for science, Mezzofanti -was of the latter class. Partly from constitutional -delicacy, and especially from weakness of the chest,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_490"></a>[490]</span> -the effort of writing was to him irksome and even -injurious. Partly too, no doubt, the same constitutional -tendency of mind which rendered speaking easy -and attractive, indisposed him for the more toilsome—to -him positively distressing—mode of communicating -his thoughts by writing. Except for the purposes of -private study, therefore, he seldom wrote more than -some fugitive piece; and, even when he was prevailed -on to write at greater length, he was seldom sufficiently -satisfied with his own performances to permit them to -be made public. Several, even of these essays which -were read by him in the learned societies of Bologna -and Rome, are known to have been destroyed by himself -before his death; including some which, from -their title and subject, might naturally have been expected -to afford some insight into the character of -his mind, and his capacity for dealing with the philosophy -of language.</p> - -<p>Accordingly, the small figure which he made as a -writer, and the little trace which he has left behind him -of the vast stores of languages which he had laid up -during life, have led to an undue depreciation of his -career, as objectless and unprofitable, whether to -himself or to his fellow-men. Whatever be the truth -of this estimate, no one was more painfully sensible -of it than the Cardinal himself. Many of his expressions -of regret have been already recorded; but -only those who knew him intimately, could know -the depth and sincerity of his repinings. Still, -although it is not possible to avoid sharing in this -regret, he would be very exacting, indeed, and would -set up for himself a very terrible standard whereby<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_491"></a>[491]</span> -to judge his own conduct, who could venture to pronounce -such a career as Mezzofanti’s empty or unprofitable. -Even if we put aside entirely the consideration -of his literary life, and test him by the -rules of personal duty alone, the life of Cardinal -Mezzofanti was a model of every virtue of the Christian -and of the priest. Devout almost to scrupulousness, -sincerely humble, simple in his habits, modest -and unexacting in his own person, but spending -himself unhesitatingly in the service of others; -courteous, amiable, affectionate, warm in his friendships, -he was known only to be loved, and he never -forfeited a friendship which he once had formed. -His benevolence was of the true Christian stamp—not -a mere unreflecting impulse, but a sustained and -systematic love of his fellow creatures. Although his -charity was of the tenderest and most melting kind—although -in truth, like Goldsmith’s Vicar,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His pity gave, ere charity began—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">although his alms, limited as were his means, were so -prodigal as to earn for him the sobriquet of <i>Monsignor -Limosiniere</i>, “<i>My Lord Almoner</i>;”—yet it would be -a great mistake to measure his benevolence by the actual -extent of poverty which it relieved, or of the assistance -it administered. His active spirit grasped every -detail of this work of God—the care of the sick, the instruction -of the young, the edification and enlightenment -of the stranger;—nay, the very courtesies of -social intercourse had for him all the sacred significance -of a duty; and, while he never offended the -sensibility of his companions by unseasonably obtruding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_492"></a>[492]</span> -over-serious conversation, yet he never lost -sight, even in his lightest hours, of the obligation of -good example and edification which his position and -character imposed upon him.</p> - -<p>And as regards the great pursuit of his literary -life, which some have presumed to deny as “empty -word-knowledge,” and unprofitable display, it must -never be forgotten—even though we should be content -to judge its value by the selfish standard of -mere utility—that, for himself, one of its earliest and -most attractive, as well as most endearing sources of -interest, lay in the opportunity which it afforded -him for the exercise of his sacred ministry and the -only less sacred offices of charity and humanity; -that many of its most precious acquisitions were -gathered in these very exercises of religion and of -benevolence; that his usual text books in each new -language were the catechism and the Bible; and -that his favourite theatre for the display of his gifts -were the sick wards of the hospitals of Bologna, -the Santo Spirito or the House of Catechumens at -Rome, and the halls and <i>camerate</i> of the great Missionary -College of the Propaganda.</p> - -<p>For myself, I cannot envy the moral and intellectual -utilitarianism, which pauses to measure by so paltry a -standard a great psychological phenomenon, such as -Nature, in the most prodigal exercise of her powers, -has never before given to man to see. As well might -we shut our eyes to the glory of those splendid -meteors which at intervals illumine the sky, because -we are unable to see what cold and sordid purpose of -human utility they may be made to subserve.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_493"></a>[493]</span></p> - -<p>I prefer to look to him with grateful and affectionate -admiration, as a great example of the successful -cultivation of one of the noblest of God’s gifts to -His creatures;—as the man who has approached -nearest to the withdrawal of that barrier to intercommunion -of speech which, in punishment of human -pride, was set up at Babel; and of whom, more -literally than of any other son of Adam, it may be -said, that he could</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hold converse with all forms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the many-sided mind.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_494"></a>[494]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_495"></a>[495]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="APPENDIX">APPENDIX.</h2> - -</div> - -<p>[Allusion is made, more than once, in this volume, to Cardinal -Mezzofanti’s habit of amusing himself and his friends by writing -short metrical pieces in various languages, and of composing or -correcting the odes recited by the pupils at the annual Polyglot -Academy of the Propaganda. In the absence of other data for -judging of his skill as a linguist, these fragments, trifling though -they be, are of considerable interest; and I had hopes of being -able to form a little collection of them, as a contribution to the -enquiry regarding him. Unfortunately my search for these remains, -trivial and fugitive as most of them must have been, has -been very unsuccessful. I am only able to add a few to those -which appear in the sheet of fac-similes, or which have been -already incidentally introduced in the course of the narrative.</p> - -<p>The short pieces recited at the Propaganda Academy, being -the property of the pupils themselves, are not preserved in the -college archives. I have only succeeded in obtaining four of these -pieces:—two from Rome, a Greek Anacreontic Ode, and a couple -of stanzas in the Grisons dialect; and two in Angolese from the -Rev. Charles Fernando, Missionary Apostolic in Ceylon.</p> - -<p>The Abbate Mazza, Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Seminary -at Bologna, has kindly sent me a Hebrew Psalm addressed by -Mezzofanti, as a tribute on his Jubilee (or the fiftieth anniversary -of his ordination as a priest), to his old friend and master, Father -Emmanuel Aponte; and a Latin Hexameter Poem, descriptive -of St. Peter’s Church at Rome, recited by him in the <i>Accademia -degli Arcadi</i>, on his being elected a member of that body.</p> - -<p>These little pieces, it need hardly be said, are offered merely -as specimens of Mezzofanti’s power as a linguist, and not as -possessing any striking excellence, whether of poetry or sentiment. -It is only just to his memory to add that, judging from -his well-known habit of composition, they may all be presumed -to be literally <i>impromptu</i>, and are entitled to the full indulgence -usually accorded to such productions.]</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_496"></a>[496]</span></p> - -<h3>I. <i>Hebrew Psalm,<a id="FNanchor_576" href="#Footnote_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a> addressed to Father Emmanuel Aponte—on -the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination.</i></h3> - -<div class="blockquote rtl"> - -<p class="center">לסיוף מהזופאנתי</p> - -<p>א. שמך עמנואל שס טוב כשמן תורף ץל כן רצו נץריﬦ ואהיבוך וזקניﬦ -גם המה בקשו חכמה שפתיך</p> - -<p>ב. מה גאוו צל צייﬦ רגליך מבשר משמיץ משמיץ שלוס מבשר טוב משמיץ -ישוץה</p> - -<p>ג. אור גגה בארצסו בץﬨ באך ממזרת מאז הגדלת השמחה והרביﬨ דץﬨ -ומוםר נﬨﬨ לרﬥ דורשי בינה ואור פני אדני בכל מץשיך ראו ץינינו</p> - -<p>ד. הנה היום החלפת כנשר לבוא משכנות אדגי ואחרי חמישים שנﬣ תוצא -עוד לחם ויין כהן לאל ץליון כהן ץולם ץל דברתי מלכיצדך</p> - -<p>ה. לכו נננו לארנדי ﬨשוץה לעור ישץנו כי התלה זקן טוכ חסיד לו -לגשת אליו לכהן להתפלל לפניו ולכתר ץןיגו</p> - -<p>ו. גתת ארני לעמגואל חן וכבוד כי ﬣלך בתמים למד חןכמה ועאה עדק</p> - -<p>ז. וץﬨה לנך אזנך אלהיﬦ מלך הכבור ץנה עבדיך תלמידי זקן טוב תן לו -ארך ומיﬦ ורצון וברכה תעטרהו</p> - -</div> - -<div class="transnote">Transcriber’s Note: A better version might be:</div> - -<div class="blockquote rtl" style="background-color: #E6E6FA;"> - -<p class="center">ליוסף מהזופאנתי</p> - -<p>א. שמך עמנואל שם טוב כשמן תורק על כן רצו נערים ואהיבוך וזקנים -גם המה בקשו חכמה שפתיך</p> - -<p>ב. מה גאוו על איים רגליך מבשר משמיע משמיע שלום מבשר טוב משמיע -ישועה</p> - -<p>ג. אור נגה בארצנו בעת באך ממזרח מאז הגדלת השמחה והרבית דעה -ומוסר נתת לכל דורשי בינה ואור פני אדני בכל מעשיך ראו עינינו</p> - -<p>ד. הנה היום החלפת כנשר לבוא משכנות אדגי ואחרי חמישים שנה תוצא -עוד לחם ויין כהן לאל עליון כהן עולם על דברתי מלכיצדך</p> - -<p>ה. לכו רננו לאדני תשועה לצור ישענו כי הפלה זקן טוב חסיד לו לגשת -אליו לכהן להתפלל לפניו ולכפר עלינו</p> - -<p>ו. נתת אדני לעמגואל חן וכבוד כי הלך בתמים למד חכמה ועאה עדק</p> - -<p>ז. ועתה לנך אזנך אלהים מלך הכבוד ענה עבדיך תלמידי זקן טוב תן לו -ארך יומים ורצון וברכה תעטרהו</p> - -</div> - -<h4><i>Latin Translation.</i></h4> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">Josephus Mezzofanti.</p> - -<p class="hanging">1. Nomen tuum, Emanuel, nomen bonum, sicut oleum effusum, -propterea excurrerunt adolescentes, et dilexerunt te. Et -senes ipsi quoque quæsierunt sapientiam labiorum tuorum,</p> - -<p class="hanging">2. Quam speciosi fuerunt in insulis pedes tui, evangelizans predicator! -prædicans pacem, evangelizans bonum, prædicans -salutem!</p> - -<p class="hanging">3. Luxfulsit in terra nostra, quando venisti ab oriente: ex eo -tempore magnificasti lætitiam et multiplicasti scientiam, et -eruditionem dedisti omnibus quærentibus intelligentiam; et -lumen vultus Domini in omnibus operibus tuis viderunt -oculi nostri.</p> - -<p class="hanging">4. Ecce hodie innovas te sicut aquila, ut intres in habitacula Domini: -et post quinquaginta annos profers adhuc panem et -vinum, sacerdos Dei Altissimi, sacerdos in eternum -secundum ordinem Melchisedec.</p> - -<p class="hanging">5. Venite exultemus Domino, jubilemus petræ salutis nostræ; -quia segregavit senem bonum sanctum sibi, ut accederet -ad eum, ut fungeretur sacerdotio, ut ovaret ante faciem ejus, -ut propitiaret super nos.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_497"></a>[497]</span></p> - -<p class="hanging">6. Dedisti Domine Emanueli gratiam et gloriam, quia ambulavit -in integritate, docuit sapientiam, et operatus est justitiam.</p> - -<p class="hanging">7. Nunc ergo inclina aurem tuam, Deus Rex Gloriæ! Exaudi -servos tuos, discipulos senis boni! Da illi longitudinem -dierum et beneplacito ac benedictione corona his illum!</p> - -</div> - -<h3>II. <i>Greek Anacreontie Ode “On the Adoration of the Shepherds,” -composed for the Propaganda Academy.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ὁ καιρὸς ἦλθεν ᾔδη</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ὁν εἵσαν οἱ προφήται·</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Υἱος δ’ ὁ του Θέοῖο</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἐξ ουρανῶν κατήλθεν,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἱνα βροτους σαὤσῃ.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Αύτὸς δ’ Ἄναξ ἀνάκτων,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἐκ Παρθένου γενητὸς,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Θρόνον Θεῳ πρέποντα,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Οὐκ εἶχεν, ἄλλὰ φάτνον.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ὁ δ’ Ἄγγελος παραστάς</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Τοἶς ποιμεδιν, διδάσει</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ὡς κόσμου ἤλθ’ ὁ Σωτήρ.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oἱ δ’ εὐθεώς λαβόντες</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Δῶρα βρέφει φέεουσι,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Χάριν δ’ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ εὖρον.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Πένης δ’ ὅλως ἅμ’ ἆυτοίς</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἀμνὸν τὸν εἶχε μοῦνον</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἤνεγκε τῴ Νεογνῷ.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ὁ Παῖς ὁρᾷ τὸν ὰμνόν,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Καί προζγελᾲ διδόντι.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Τὶ τότ’; Ἔγνω γἕρ αὑτου</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Τῦπὸν—Θεοῦ περ αὐτός</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ὁ πρᾶος ἐστίν ἀμνός</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἁμαρτίας ἀφαιρὡν</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tόυ κόσμου—Αμνὲ, χαἶρε!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἄρον δ’ ἁμαρτίας μου!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἄρον—χάριν τε δός μοι!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>III. <i>Latin Hexameter Poem, recited in the Arcadian Academy -at Rome.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="center">J. M.</div> - <div class="center">PASTOR ARCAS.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Romuleas Arces, fulgentia Templa Tonantis</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quae fuerant dudum, conscendo munere vestro,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arcades; et celsas sedes teneo, Arcas et ipse,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et parvi custos nemoris. Sed non ego doctus,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_498"></a>[498]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Aut calamos inflare leves, aut dicere versus;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At geminare sonos gaudens, et reddere voces,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quas longinqua edit gens, aut contermina nostræ.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hic adsum, florens postquam est exacta juventa,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Temporaque adventans mihi tardior inficit aetas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Adsumus hic, patriosque lares, et linquimus arva,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pinguia quæ Rheni preterfluit unda minoris:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Linquimus et colles, varium queis Daedala tellus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Submittit florem et vites—tua munera, Bacche!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Linquimus et turres, quarum altera celsa minatur</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In cœlum, impendit præfracto vertice flexa</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Altera, nutanti similis jam jamque ruenti.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Adsumus hic tandem, Eumetes<a id="FNanchor_577" href="#Footnote_577" class="fnanchor">[577]</a> cum tempora vittâ</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tergeminâ redimit, cœlique oracula promit.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scilicet hic nobis suprema e sede benignus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Annuit. Æternam tum nos advenimus Urbem.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hic vestra assidue lustrans decora alta, Quirites,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quaeque recens tulit, et quæ prisci temporis aetas.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vocibus hæc refero, “Vos terque, quaterque beati,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Non peritura quibus vulgata est fama per orbem!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eximia at quoties cerno heic monumenta virorum,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Felsina quos aluit, quosve extulit infula Petri,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quive aedes vestras decorant et Templa, Quirites,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tunc animus nobis patriæ exardescit amore!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dulcia tune nostrum pertentant gaudia pectus!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Tum Templum ingressus, quo nil præstantius aevis,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Praeteritis vidit Sol, aspicietque futuris,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Admiror molem ingentem, artificumque labores,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">En mihi spectanti fulget morientis imago,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mira senis,<a id="FNanchor_578" href="#Footnote_578" class="fnanchor">[578]</a> sapiens qui dia volumina pandit!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aspice, ut in genua is procumbens corpore toto,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brachia demittit, languentia lumina torquet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et capit extrema, eternae sed pabula vitæ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illic cerne modo, ut malo suspenditur alto,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Saevi qui morbi contagia depulit Urbe!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hinc miles validis incurvat viribus arcum,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Atque hinc acer equus permissis fertur habenis:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Diffugiunt matres, puerique, ignobile vulgus;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ast Heros ad cœlum ardentia lumina tendit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dicenti similis:—“Nostrum accipe, Christe, cruorem!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Protinus en Michael exerto devolat ense,<a id="FNanchor_579" href="#Footnote_579" class="fnanchor">[579]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_499"></a>[499]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Ac monstrum horrendum sub tristia Tartara mittit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Parte alia occubuit cœlesti percita amore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et volat ad superos virgo de germine Petri!<a id="FNanchor_580" href="#Footnote_580" class="fnanchor">[580]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hæc præclara artis miracula, Felsina prodis,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In tua cum varios inducis vela colores!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sed quinam effulgent niveo de marmore vultus!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">En opus, en!—Algarde, tuum, et spirantia signa!<a id="FNanchor_581" href="#Footnote_581" class="fnanchor">[581]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attila hic, ille Leo: demissi nubibus instant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et Petrus et Paulus, magnæ tutamina Romæ!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attila terrarum metus, et squalentibus armis,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Horridus, ense ferox Martis, (sic namque putaret,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ensem quem Pastor vitulæ vestigia læsæ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Atra cruore sequens Scythiis invenerat agris,)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Elatosque gerens animos cœlique flage lum,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sese compellans, sibi totum adsciverat Orbem.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ergo suis atrox erumpit sedibus, atque</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bella ciet populis late, crudelia bella;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Omnia namque furens ferro populatur et igne;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Efferus incedit per membra fluentia tabo;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Respicit, et gaudet loca jam convulsa ruinis.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Immites primum Dacas juga ferre coegit;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tum quoque Bistonios, dein Odrysiosque feroces;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illyriumque; tuas exin, Germania, terras!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illum nec Rhenus nec Gallia terret ovantem;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pulsus, proh, remeat, pelagi ceu refluit unda!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ocius ille domum rediit: pudor incitat iras;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Agmina dira legit, bellumque ferocius urget,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ac nova Romanæ meditatur praelia genti.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Qualis percussus saevo leo vulnere, pugnam</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Integrat, et late silvas rugitibus implet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Talem Hunnorum Rex gestans in corde furorem,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Italiae ingreditur campos et milite complet.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Omnis humo fumat jam Aquileja; Mediolanum,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et Verona ruunt; Ticinum et Parma fatiscunt:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attila per medias cædes bacchatur et ignes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sed nihil ille actum reputat, dum Roma superstes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ire parat Romam: convellit signa, movetque</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Agmina; cen apium ducunt examina reges!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tunc illum miles dictis affatur amicis.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Quo tibi nunc iter? Heu! acies Alaricus in Urbem,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Induxit;—mox ingreditur dum mænia Rhegi,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Connubiumque parat, fato decedit acerbo!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_500"></a>[500]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Hæc audit, dubiusque hæret. Mox æstuat ira</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dux, movet et castra. Est eadem sententia menti,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cum subito miserisque dolens, et cœlitus actus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Magnus adest Leo, sacra vitta et veste decorus.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Constitit ille tremens, stupet, et vox faucibus hæret!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Verba deinde audit dulci stillantia melle;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mitescunt animi dictis, et corda residunt.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Attila quo cessere minæ, quo spiritus acer?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hæc miles. Contra Hunnorum Rex talia fatur:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nonne duos aetate graves atque ore severo,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Delapsos caelo spectas mortemque minantes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Districtis gladiis? Feror hinc!—Jam tollite signa,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et patrios fines, montes silvasque petamus:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mens hand illa mihi bello contendere Divis!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hæc ait, et nostris excedit finibus Hunnus.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ast nullæ servant latebræ, nullique recessus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Persequitur quos ira Dei. Namque Attila, solvit</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dum metibus sese, parat et dulces hymenæos,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Occubuit proprio suffusus nocte cruore!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Est Deus in cœlis fandi memor atque nefandi!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At Leo contendit Romam, jussitque lubentes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et Petro et Paulo persolvere vota Quirites;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et Petrus et Paulus resonant per templa, per aedes!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Felix Roma! Tibi hæc data sunt munimina cœlo!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et dedit Eumetem mitis Deus atque benignus!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Imperat Eumetes, et pax dominabitur Orbi!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arcades, o Petrum et Paulum celebrate canentes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Et vestros repetent septena cacumina versus!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Vos Petri Paulique fidem servate, Quirites!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eternum servate fidem, servabitis Urbem!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>IV. <i>Epiphany Ode in the Angolese language, written for the -Academy of 1845.</i><a id="FNanchor_582" href="#Footnote_582" class="fnanchor">[582]</a></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He Zambi! Mubundulula,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mubundulula coettu.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mu Quixixi Quitombi,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quitombi, O—vundu,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O Riala muca cuffua mucutu,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Muca! I’nhia!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tctembuca!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Kieno ki Miscino,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Skitatu miscino,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A—ssueta a Belem,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_501"></a>[501]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">A-beza camona,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Camona cafeli.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nhi-bula-canu,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Una camona Zambi,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Zambi ni Riala ni,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mubundulula via Quinixi,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ocutanhinha u-a-gile,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hi Riala! batessa ocutanhinha,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beza a-camona,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A-camona cafeli,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eyè muca muno,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>V. <i>Angolese Ode for the Academy of 1846.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Tctembuca, Tctembuca!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I’nhai? Kieno ki,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amona—Miscino,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Kitatu Misciso,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A-bocala monsu,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Monsu via Kian cu,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Kieno-ki! una-a-beza,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A-beza camona,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Camona cafeli.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah! nghi-bala cana,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tina camona Zambi,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Monandanghi Zambi,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mubundulula, Mobundulala, coettu!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>VI. <i>Epiphany Ode in the Grisons, or Graubünden, Dialect.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Steila che partas legerment,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E trej reigs clomag d’alg orient,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ti clara steila ventireila,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Meinag a Dieu l’olma fideiola!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O Telg da Dieu! o mig salvader!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">D’ilg pievelg tuttig ti ey sprindrader!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gloria al Bab che Ti ha envian!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Piugch alg Christgang ehe Ti has trostigian!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>VII. [The following epigram was addressed to Cardinal Lambruschini -on the appearance of his Essay on the Immaculate -Conception of the B.V.M. It is hardly worthy of the subject.]</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Tota es pulcra, DEI Genitrix, ab origine pulcra es!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hoc decuit, potuit, fecit et Omnipotens.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Asserit invictus decus hoc Tibi fulgidus ostro</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Auctor. Scriptorem protege, Virgo, tuum.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_502"></a>[502]</span></p> - -<p>The Italian version which accompanied it is much more happy.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Tutta se’bella, o di DIO Madre;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sin da principio bella tu sé.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cosi addicevasi, e il Sommo Padre</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tutto potendo, cosi pur fé.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Or Ti mantiene un tanto onore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chi d’ostro fulgido tra lo splendor,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A’ penna invitta di grande Autore:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Proteggi, o Vergine, il tuo Scrittor!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>VIII. <i>French Stanza given to children after their First -Communion.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Demandez an bon Dieu le don de la sagesse;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">C’est le veritable trésor!—demandez-le sans cesse!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mais it faut le chercher avec simplicité</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pour guide, mes enfans, prenant la Pieté.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>IX. <i>Italian Stanza.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Di mille voci e mille quanto al cuore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Più soave e gradita è la parola,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Che un afflitto consola,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E l’anima solleva al Creatore!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>X. <i>English verses given to an Irish student on his leaving the -Propaganda.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“May Christ be on your lips and heart!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Show forth by facts what words impart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, by sound words and good behaviour,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You may lead others to the Saviour.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3>XI. <i>Written for a student.</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O man, what is thy science?—Vanity:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thou art nothing without charity.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="titlepage">END.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak">FOOTNOTES</h2> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Works I., p. 42.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Mithridates, Vol. II. Einleitung, p. 7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> See the whole legend in Huc’s Chinese Empire, II., p. 187-8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Auswahl Historischer Stücke aus Hebräischen Schriftstellern, -von den zweiten Jahrhundert bis auf die Gegenwart, Berlin, 1840, -p. 10. The book is entitled <i>Pirki Rabbi Eliezer</i>, “The chapters of -Rabbi Eliezer.” Its date is extremely uncertain. See Moreri Dict. -Hist. VII., 361.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> See Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, p. 66.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> According to the account of Pliny, Dioscurias, a city of Colchis -(the present Iskuriah,) was frequented for commercial purposes by -no less than <i>three hundred different races</i>; and he adds that a hundred -and thirty interpreters were employed there under the Romans -(<i>Hist. Nat.</i> VI., 5. Miller’s Ed. II., 176.) The Arabian writers, -Ibn Haukal and Musadi, mention seventy-two languages which -were spoken at Derbent. Strabo speaks of twenty-six in the Eastern -Caucasus alone. See <i>The Tribes of the Caucasus</i>, p. 14, also p. 32.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Dahlmann, p. 47. It would be presumptuous to differ from so -ingenious a writer, and so profound a master of the subject which he -treats; but I may observe that there are some passages of Herodotus -which seem to imply a certain degree at least of acquaintance with -Egyptian (for instance II. 79, II. 99), and with the ancient language -of Persia, as IX. 100, &c. It must be admitted, however, that a -very superficial knowledge of either language would suffice to explain -these allusions.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> XVII. 17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> This is not Mithridates’s only title to distinction. Perhaps it -may not be so generally known that he was equally celebrated for -his powers of eating and drinking! Athenæus tells of him that he -once offered a prize of a talent to the greatest eater in his dominions. -After a full competition the prize was awarded to Mithridates -<i>himself</i>.—<i>Athenæus, Deipnosoph., Book X., p. 415.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> VIII. 7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> Hist. Nat. VII. 24, and again XXV. 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Life of Anthony. Langhorne’s Plutarch, v. p. 182.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> It was probably by some such fanciful analogy that Cecrops -obtained the name δίφυης, because he knew both Greek and Egyptian.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> See a long list of examples cited by Bayle, Dict. Histor. I. 943. -The legislation on the subject, however, was not uniform; nor is it -easy to reconcile some parts of it with each other, or to understand -any general principles on which they can be founded.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> Pænulus, act v., sc. 1.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> With the exception of Tacitus, who claimed to be of the family -of the great historian, and made a vigorous but unsuccessful effort -for the revival of declining Latinity.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> See Milman’s Latin Christianity, I., 28-9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> In some congregations, as early as the first and second century, -there were official interpreters [Ἑρμηνεύται], whose duty it was to -translate into the provincial tongues, what had been read in the -church. They resembled the interpreters of the Jewish synagogue. -See Neander’s Kirchen-Geschichte, I. 530.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> Stromata, I. 276 (Paris, 1641.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Opp. I. 326 (Paris, 1609.) Hom. in Laudem St. Basilii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> See Bayle, Dict. Historique, I. 408. It is curious that the -victorious Mussulmen at Jerusalem enacted the very opposite. No -Christian was permitted to speak the sacred language of the Koran. -See Milman’s “Latin Christianity,” II. 42, and again III. 225. It -would be interesting to examine the history of enactments of this -kind, and their effects upon the languages which they were intended -to suppress,—the Norman efforts against English, those of the -English against Celtic, Joseph II’s against Magyar, and others of -the same kind.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> Ep. VI. 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> When the Patriarch Nestorius wrote to Pope Celestine his -account of the controversy now known under his name, the latter was -obliged, before he could reply, to wait till Nestorius’s letter had -been translated into Latin. Erat enim in Latinum sermo vertendus. -This letter, together with those of Cyril of Alexandria, form part -of an interesting correspondence which illustrates very strikingly -the pre-eminence then enjoyed in the Church by the Roman bishop, -and is found in Hardouin’s Concilia, I. 1302. See also Walch’s -Historie der Ketzereien, V. 701.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> Even Pope Vigilius himself professes his want of familiarity -with the Greek language. See his celebrated <i>Constitutum</i> in Hardouin’s -Coll. Concil III. col. 39.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> See the original in Labbe’s <i>Concilia</i>, VIII. 835. Both the -original and the translation will be found in Leibnitz’s “System of -Theology,” p. 52, note.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> See Milman’s Latin Christianity, IV. p. 58, and again 367.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> The titles of nearly two hundred of his works are still preserved.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> Rohrbacher Hist. de l’Eglise, XIX., 569.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> He is the author of a History of Spain, in nine books; and besides -his very remarkable attainments as a linguist, was reputed among the -most learned scholars of his age.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> See the account in Labbe, Collect. Concil. VII. 79. The writer -observes; Cum ab apostolorum tempore auditum non sit nec scriptum -reperiatur, quemque ad populum eandem concionem habuisse tot ac -tam diversis linguis cuncta exponendo. The fact is also related by -Feyjoo, Teatro critico, IV. p. 400. An interesting account of this -remarkable scholar will be found in the <i>Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus</i> -II. <i>pp. 149-50</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> The Family of Barbaro produced many distinguished linguists, -according to the opportunities of the time. Francesco Barbaro, born -in 1398, was one of the earliest eminent Greek scholars of Italy. -Ermolao, the commentator on Aristotle, was said by the wits of his -time to have been such a purist in Greek, that he did not stop at consulting -the devil when he was at a loss for the precise meaning of a -word—the much disputed ἐντελεχέια of Aristotle!—See Bayle’s Dict. -Hist. Art. <i>Barbaro</i> I. 473.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> Venice was long remarkable for her encouragement of skill -in living languages. It was a necessary qualification for most of -her diplomatic appointments; and, while Latin, in Europe, was still -the ordinary medium of diplomatic intercourse, we find a Venetian -ambassador to England, in 1509, Badoer, capable of conversing like -a native in English, French, and German.—See an interesting paper, -“Venetian Dispatches,” in the Quarterly Review, vol. xcvi. p. 369.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> M’Crie’s Reformation in Spain, I. p. 61. See also Hallam’s -Literary History, I. p. 197.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> See the Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. I. pref. p. vii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> See Hefele’s <i>Der Cardinal Ximenes</i>: one of the most interesting -and learned biographies with which I am acquainted, p. 124.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> Vol. II., p. 788.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Naima’s Annals of the Turkish Empire, translated by M. Frazer, -for the Oriental Translation Society. For this fact I am indebted -to the kindness of Mr. Watts, of the British Museum, but I am -unable to refer to the passage.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> Pilgrimage to El Medinah, II. p. 368.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> Ibid. I., p. 179.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Burton’s Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah. III., 368.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> Annals of the Turkish Empire, p. 45.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> A melancholy instance of the capriciousness of this sort of reputation, -and of the unhappiness by which, in common with many -other gifts, it is often accompanied, is recorded in the Paris journals -of the early part of this year. A man apparently about fifty years -old, named Tinconi, a native of Constantinople, was found dead at -his lodgings in the Rue des Vieux Augustins, having perished, as it -afterwards appeared, of hunger. This ill-fated man was possessed -of an ample fortune, and had held high diplomatic appointments; -and, besides being well-versed in ancient and modern literature, he -spoke not fewer than ten languages, and knew several others! Yet -almost the only record of his varied accomplishments is that which -also tells the story of his melancholy end!</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> See his life by Pococke, prefixed to the translation of his work -<i>De Termino Vitæ</i>. 1699.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> See Dr. Paul De Lagarde’s learned dissertation, “De Geoponicon -Versione Syriacâ” (p. 3, Leipsig, 1855). This dissertation is an -account of a hitherto unknown Syriac version of the “Scriptores -Rei Rusticæ” which Dr. De Lagarde discovered among the Syriac -MSS. of the British Museum. He has also transcribed from the -same collection many similar remains of Syriac literature, partly -sacred, partly profane, which he purposes to publish at intervals. -Some of the former especially, as referring to the Ante-Nicene period, -are, like those already published by Mr. Cureton, of great -interest to students of Christian antiquity, although the same drawback—doubt -as to their age and authorship—must affect the doctrinal -value of them all.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> This laborious and prolific writer, whose works fill nearly 20 -volumes, is said to have used the same pen for no less than forty -years, and to have been thrown almost into despair upon its accidental -destruction at the end of that period.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> Some of these visited the English universities. Of one among -the number, named Metrophanes Critopulus, who was sent by Cyrillus -Lucaris to be indoctrinated in Anglican Theology, and who -lived at Oxford at the charge of archbishop Abbott, a very amusing -account is given by the disappointed prelate in a letter quoted by -Neale (History of Alexandria, II., 413-5.) He turned out “an unworthy -fellow,” “far from ingenuity or any grateful respect,” a “rogue -and beggar,” and in other ways disappointed the care bestowed on -him.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> One specimen may suffice, which is furnished by Mr. Neale: -“<i>Collavi</i> (<i>I have collated</i>) sua notata cum textu Bellarmini.” Neale, -II., p. 402. The Easterns seldom seem at home in the languages -of Europe; Italian, and still more French orthography, is their -great puzzle. I have seen specimens of Oriental Italian which, for -orthography, might rival “Jeames’s” English, or the French of -Augustus the Strong.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> Panagiotes was a native of Scio, and was known in his later life -under the sobriquet of “the Green Horse,” in allusion to a local -proverb, that “it is easier to find a green horse than a wise man in -Scio.” The appellation was the highest tribute that could be rendered -to the prudence and ability of Panagiotes; but it is also a curious -confirmation of the evil repute, as regards honesty, in which the -islanders of the Egean were held from the earliest times. The reader -will probably remember the satirical couplet of Phocylides about the -honesty of the Lerians, which Porson applied, in a well-known English -parody, to the Greek scholarship of Herrmann.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">————Λέριοι κάκοι ὄυκ ὁ μὲν ὅστδ’ όυ</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Πάντες πλήν Προκλέους και Πρόκλεης Λέριος.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> An elaborate account of them will be found in Neumann’s -<i>Versuch einer Geschichte der Armenischen Literatur</i>. Leipzig, 1836. -On the exceeding importance of the Armenian language for the -general study of the entire Indo-Germanic family, see the extremely -learned essay, <i>Urgeschichte der Armenier, ein Philologischer -Versuch</i>. (Berlin, 1854.) It is published anonymously, but is believed -to be from the pen of the distinguished Orientalist named in -page 22.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> I do not think it necessary to mention (though he is a little -earlier) Felix of Ragusa, the principal librarian, or rather book -collector, of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary. He is said to -have known, besides Greek and Latin, the Chaldee, Arabic, and -Syriac languages.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria, p. 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> The history of this MS. is a strange one. In the sack of Pavia -by the French under Lautrec, it was carried off among the plunder. -Teseo was in despair at the loss, and was returning to Rome with a -sad heart. At Ferrara, he chanced to see a quantity of papers at a -charcoal burner’s, just on the point of being consigned to the furnace. -What was his delight to find his precious Psalter among them! He -began the printing of it at Ferrara without delay, but did not live to -see its completion.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> Adelung’s Mithridates, I., 646. See also Biogr. Universelle, -II., p. 25.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> Biograph. Univ. XV. 239.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> There is another Pigafetta (Felippo), some years the junior of -Antonio, who was also a very extensive traveller, having visited -Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Croatia, Hungary, the Ukraine, and the -northern kingdoms. He was sent into Persia on a diplomatic mission -by Sixtus V. But I have not been able to find any record of -his skill in languages.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> Thevet’s <i>Thresor des Langues</i>, p. 964.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> Raimondi had spent many years in the East, and was acquainted -with most of the Oriental languages, living and dead. He projected -a polyglot bible which should contain the Arabic, Syriac, Persic, -Ethiopic, Armenian, and Coptic versions, accompanied by the Grammars -and Dictionaries of these languages. But the death of Gregory -XIII., on whose patronage he mainly relied for the execution -of his project, put a stop to the undertaking.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> A copy of this work is found in the Catalogue of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s -Library, by Signor Bonifazi. It is in 4 vols., fol., Milan, -1632.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> Conciliatio Ecclesiæ Armenæ cum Romana, ex ipsis Armenorum -Patrum et Doctorum Testimoniis. 2 vols fol., Romæ 1658—It is -in Bonifazi’s Catalogue of the Mezzofanti Library, p. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> Feller’s Dict. Biog. art. <i>Galani</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> The learned Jesuit, Father Giambattista Ferrari, author of the -<i>Nomenclator Syrus</i>, is an exception to the general rule. He does not -appear to have been a member of any of the Eastern missions. -Angelo Canini, the eminent Syriac scholar, though born in Italy, -belongs rather to the French school.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> Wadding assigns his death to the year 1638; but it is clear from -the preface of the Thesaurus that he was dead several years before -its publication, which was in 1636.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> <i>Alcorani Textus Universus.</i> 2 vols, fol., Padua, 1698.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> Biogr. Uni. XV. 263, (Brussels Ed.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> He must not be confounded with a German Orientalist, -Christopher Sigismund Georgi, who lived about the same time.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> Biographie Universelle, Vol. XXVI, p. 128.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> For this interesting anecdote of Father Ignazio de Rossi, I am -indebted to Cardinal Wiseman, who learned it from the companions -of the good old father upon the occasion. His Eminence added, -that it was done as a mere amusement, and without the least effort -or the remotest idea of preparation.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> Through the kindness of the Cavaliere Pezzana, Royal Librarian -and Privy Councillor of Parma, I have been fortunate enough to -obtain copies of some of Mezzofanti’s letters to De Rossi, which will -be found in their chronological order hereafter.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> It is a magnificent folio, entitled “Epithalamia Exoticis Linguis -Reddita;” one of the most curious productions of the celebrated -press of Bodoni. Parma, 1775.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> The <i>Panglossia</i> in honour of Peiresc was the work of many -hands, and cannot fairly be compared with the Epithalamia of -De Rossi. I have never seen a copy of the latter, nor does De Rossi -himself, in his modest autobiography, (<i>Memorie Storiche</i>, Parma, -1807, p. 19), enumerate the languages which it contained.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> The ingenious mechanician, Prince Raimondo di Sansevero, of -Naples, had some name as a linguist. He is said to have known -Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and several modern languages. -But his knowledge was very superficial.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> <i>Theatro Critico</i>, IV., p. 401, Art. <i>Glorias de España</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> <i>Bibliotheca Hispana</i>, Vol. IV., p. 75.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> Thus amusingly “Englished” in Wanley’s “Wonders of the -Little World,” p. 285:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A young man have I seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At twenty years so skilled,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That every art he knew, and all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all degrees excelled!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whatever yet was writ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He vaunted to pronounce</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(Like a young Antichrist) if he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did read the same but once.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> P. 457. The work was printed in the same volume with Peter -Martyr’s <i>De Rebus Oceanicis</i>. Cologne, 1574.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> Bruce’s Travels, III, 134.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> Duret refers for some notice of Covilham, to the rare work of -Alvarez, <i>De Historia Ethiopum</i>. In the hope of discovering something -further regarding this remarkable and little-known linguist, -I endeavoured to consult that author; but I have not been able to -find a copy. It is not in the British Museum.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> Galatinus de Arcanis Cath. Veritatis Libri XII. (Frankfort -1572), B. III. c. 6, p. 120.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> There is considerable difference of opinion as to his birth-place. -But Nicholas Antonio, in the Bibliotheca Hispana, says it was Frexenal. -Vol. III. p. 207.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> Enfans Celebres, p. 198. Baillet says it was an edition of Seneca’s -Tragedies; but this is a mistake. The <i>In Senecæ Tragedias Adversaria</i> -did not appear till 1574.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> <i>Teatro Critico</i>, IV. 401.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[82]</a> Feyjoo IV. p. 401. “Seguramente podemos creers in alguna -rebaxa.” The <i>Bibliotheca Hispana</i> enumerates twelve languages, -Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, French, Flemish, -Spanish, Italian, and English. I. p. 207.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> This is, strange as it may seem, the lowest computation, and -rests on <i>Lope de Vega’s</i> own testimony, written in 1630, five years -before his death. Speaking of the number of his dramatic fictions, he -says to his friend,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Mil y quinientos</i> fabulas admira.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">By other authors the number is made much greater. According -to some, as his friend, Montalvan, he wrote <i>eighteen hundred</i> -plays; and Bouterwek, in his History of Spanish Literature, puts it -down at the enormous estimate of <i>two thousand</i>. “<i>Spanish Literature</i>,” -I. p. 361.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> Montalvan says <i>four hundred</i>. The <i>Bibliotheca Hispana</i> says -(vol. iv., p. 75) “<i>eighteen hundred plays, and above four hundred sacred -dramas</i>.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> A long list of grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, catechisms, -&c., in more than forty-five different languages, compiled by the -Spanish missionaries, is given in the Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. IV. -pp. 577-79.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a> M. d’Abbadie assures me that Father Paez is still spoken of as -“Ma alim Petros” by the professors of Gondar and Bagënndir.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> Neale’s <i>History of the Patriarchate of Alexandria</i> (London, -1837) II. 405.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> Letter to M. Le Leu de Wilhem, quoted by Neale, II. 402.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> Biographie Universelle, IX. 301.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> Of the latter work I have never seen the Italian original. I -know it only from the Spanish <i>Catalogo de las Lenguas de las naciones -conocidas, y numeracion, division, y classes de estas, segun la Diversidad -de sus idiomas y dialectos</i>. 6 vols 4to. Madrid, 1800-5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[91]</a> Anthony Rodolph Chevalier, a Hebraist of some eminence, -born in Normandy in 1507, three years before Postel, has perhaps -some claim to be mentioned before him, inasmuch as several of his -versions are inserted in Walton’s Polyglot; but his history has -hardly any interest.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[92]</a> See Adelung’s Mithridates, I. 646. Postel published in the same -year, the first grammar of the Arabic language ever printed. Paris 1558.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[93]</a> <i>Thresor de l’ Histoire de toutes les Langues de cet Univers.</i> Cologne, -613, p. 964.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[94]</a> Adelung, in the appendix of the first volume of his <i>Mithridates</i>, -has enumerated several other Pater Nosters, Thevet, Vulcanius (the -latinized form of <i>Smet</i>), Merula, Duret, Mauer Waser, Reuter, Witzen, -Bartsch, Bergmann, and others. None of these collections, however, -possesses any special interest, as bearing on the present inquiry, -nor does it appear that any of the authors was particularly -eminent as a speaker of languages; unless we are to presume that -Thevet, Duret, Gramaye, and Witzen, may, in their long travel or -sojourn in foreign countries, have acquired the languages of the -nations among whom they lived. Of the last three names I shall say -a few words hereafter.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[95]</a> A portion of the edition contains a Latin preface, explanatory -of the plan and contents; but the majority of the copies have this -preface in Russian; and, in all, the character employed throughout -the body of the work is Russian. This character, however, may be -mastered with so little difficulty, that, practically, its adoption can -hardly be said to interfere materially with the usefulness of the -work; and the use of the Russian character had many advantages -over the Roman, in accurately representing the various sounds, especially -those of the northern languages.</p> - -<p>An alphabetical digest (4 vols. 4to. 1790-1) of all the words contained -in the Vocabulary (arranged in the order of the alphabet -without reference to language) was compiled, a few years later, by -Theodor Jankiewitsch de Miriewo, by which it may be seen at once -to what language each word belongs. But this digest is described as -unscientific in its plan and execution; and it was commonly -believed that the Empress was so dissatisfied with it, that the work -was suppressed and is now extremely rare; but I have been informed -by Mr. Watts of the British Museum, that copies of it are now -not unfrequently offered for sale. A copy has been for some years -in the British Museum.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[96]</a> It is true that some part of its materials have since become superannuated -by the fuller and more accurate researches of later investigators, -(see Bunsen’s Christianity and Mankind, III. 47.) But -it is nevertheless a work even still of immense value.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[97]</a> Strange and incredible as this anecdote may seem, it is told seriously -by Scaliger himself, who adds that the same extraordinary -power was possessed also by Jerome Cardan and by his father. See -the curious article in <i>Moreri</i>, <i>voce</i> “Scaliger.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[98]</a> Enfans Celebres, p. 196.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[99]</a> An equally eulogistic epigram, by Heinsius, is quoted by Hallam, -Literary History, II. 35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[100]</a> Scaligeriana, p. 130. This collection is the first of the series of -<i>anas</i> since so popular.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[101]</a> Ibid. p. 232.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[102]</a> On Scaliger’s powers of abuse, see M. Nisard’s brilliant and -amusing Triumvirat Literaire au XVI. Siecle, p. 296, 302, 305, -&c. The “triumvirs” are Lipsius, Scaliger and Casaubon.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[103]</a> Feller’s Dict. Biograph., vol. V. p. 312.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[104]</a> Mithridates, I. 650.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[105]</a> Cologne 1615.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[106]</a> I cannot help thinking that Adelung quite underrates this curious -work. I have seldom consulted it but with pleasure or profit. And the -concluding chapter, “on the language of animals and of birds,” on -which great ridicule has been thrown, is in reality a very curious, -interesting, and judicious essay.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[107]</a> Mr. Kenrick, in the preface of his recent work on Phœnicia, -confesses that “the most diligent reader of ancient authors with a -view to the illustration of Phœnician history, will find himself anticipated -or surpassed by Bochart.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[108]</a> Bochart’s death was the consequence of a fit with which he was -seized during a vehement dispute which he had with Huet, in the -academy of Caen in 1667, respecting the authenticity of some Spanish -medals. Huet appears to have long felt the memory of it painfully. -He alludes to it in a letter to his nephew, Piadore de Chersigne, -above forty years afterwards; and seems to console himself by thinking -that Bochart’s death “ne lui fut causèe par notre dispute, sinon -en partie.” It is curious that Disraeli has overlooked this in his -“Quarrels of Authors.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[109]</a> Feller’s Dict. Biograph., vol. X. p. 476.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[110]</a> Perhaps I ought to mention Renaudot’s contemporary, the -Jesuit, Father Claude Francis Menestrier, (1631-1704), who although -not a great linguist, is at least notable for the rather rare accomplishment -of speaking Greek with remarkable propriety and fluency, and -still more for his prodigious memory, which Queen Christina of -Sweden tried by a very singular ordeal. She had a string of three -hundred words, the oddest and most unconnected that could be -devised, written down without the least order or connexion, and -read over once in Menestrier’s presence. He repeated them in their -exact order, without a single mistake or hesitation!—<i>Biographie -Univ., Vol. XXVIII.</i>, <i>p.</i> 293.</p> - -<p>A still more extraordinary example of this power of memory is -related by Padre Menocchio (the well-known Biblical commentator, -Menochius) of a young Corsican whom Muret met at Padua, and who -was not only able to repeat in their regular order a jumble of words -similar to that described above, but could repeat them <i>backwards, -and with various other modifications</i>! The youth assured Muret that -he could retain in this way 36,000 words, and that he would undertake -to keep them in memory for an entire year! See Menocchio’s -<i>Stuore</i>, Part III., p. 89. The <i>Stuore</i> is a miscellaneous collection, -compiled by this learned Jesuit during his hours of recreation. He -called the work by this quaint title (Ang. “<i>Mats</i>”) in allusion to the -habit of the ancient monks, who used to employ their leisure hours -in weaving <i>mats</i>, in the literal sense of the word. This fanciful title -is not unlike that chosen by Clement of Alexandria for a somewhat -similar miscellany, his Στρώματα [Tapestry], or perhaps the more -literal one “Patchwork,” assumed by a popular writer of our own -time.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[111]</a> Many of the French missionaries in China, of course, were -distinguished Chinese scholars. The Dictionary of Pere Amiot, for -example, although not published till after his death, is still a -standard work. It was edited by Langlés in 1789-90.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[112]</a> For instance his <i>Memoire dans le quel on prouve que les Chinois -sont une Colonie Egyptienne</i>; a notion which was warmly controverted -by his fellow pupil, Deshauterayes. De Guignes argues from the -supposed resemblance of the Chinese and Phœnician characters. -His great Chinese Dictionary, with Klaproth’s supplement, (2 vols. -fol., Paris, 1813-19) is in Mezzofanti’s Catalogue, p. 6.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[113]</a> Although of French parents, Ruffin was born in 1742 at Salonica, -where his father was living in the capacity of chief interpreter of -France. Feller, vol XI., p. 163.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">[114]</a> Biogr. Univ. XIX., 172 (Brussels ed.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">[115]</a> Biogr. Univ., vol. LXX., p. 189-200.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">[116]</a> Auguste Herbin, a few years Remusat’s senior (having been born -at Paris 1783), was cut off in the very commencement of a most -promising career as an Orientalist. He died in 1806, before he had -completed his twenty-fourth year.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">[117]</a> M. Eugene Borè has been in Armenia what the two D’Abbadies -have been in Abyssinia—at once a scholar and a missionary—the -pioneer of religion and civilization, no less than of science.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">[118]</a> I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to acknowledge the -valuable assistance on many points which I have received, in the -form both of information and of suggestion, at the hands of this distinguished -philologist and traveller. I am but speaking the common -feeling of the learned of every country, when I express a hope -that, before long, the world may be favoured with the results of his -long and laborious researches in the language, literature, and history -of Ethiopia.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">[119]</a> Journ. Asiat. 3me., Serie, Vol. VI. p. 79.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">[120]</a> Under this head are included all the members of the German -family—Dutch, Flemings, Swedes, Danes, Swiss, &c. I have found -it convenient, too, to include Hungarians (as Austrian subjects), -although, of course, their proper ethnological place should be -elsewhere.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">[121]</a> Better known by his Grecised name, Capnio (καπνιον, <i>Rauchlein</i>, -“<i>a little smoke</i>.”)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">[122]</a> Bibliander was a Swiss, born at Bischoffzell about 1500. His -family name was <i>Buchmann</i> (Bookman), which, in the fashion of his -time, he translated into the Greek, Bibliander.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">[123]</a> Duret says they were “beyond numbering”; but so vague a -statement cannot be urged too literally. <i>Thresor</i>, p. 963.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">[124]</a> Zurich 1545. It is a small 12mo.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">[125]</a> Gesner’s Mithridates is perhaps remarkable as containing the -earliest printed specimen of the Rothwälsches, or “Gipsy-German.” -He gives a vocabulary of this slang language, of about seven pages -in length. It is only just to his memory to add that in his Epilogue, -which is a very pleasing composition, he acknowledges the manifold -imperfections of the work, and only claims the merit of opening a -way for inquirers of more capacity and better opportunities of research.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">[126]</a> Mithridates, I., 649.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">[127]</a> Biographie Universelle, Vol. VIII., 485.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">[128]</a> Feller, Vol. VIII., 136.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">[129]</a> Mithridates, I., 596.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">[130]</a> Biogr. Univ., Art. Kircher.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">[131]</a> Even at his meals Ludolf always kept an open book before him.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">[132]</a> Feller’s Dict. Biog. VII., p. 622.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">[133]</a> Biographie Universelle, Vol. XLI., p. 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">[134]</a> Adelung’s Mithridates, I., 660.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">[135]</a> They are given in the second volume. Witzen’s letters to -Leibnitz are of the years 1697, 1698, and 1699. Opp. Vol. VI., Part -II., pp. 191-206. The specimens of the Pater Noster are in the -Collectanea Etymol., ib. 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">[136]</a> I., 664.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">[137]</a> See several interesting examples in the first of Cardinal Wiseman’s -Lectures “On the Connexion between Science and Revealed -Religion,” I., p. 25. The two lectures on the Comparative Study -of Languages exhaust the whole history of philological science down -to the date of their publication. Ample justice is also rendered to -Leibnitz’s rare philological instinct by Chevalier Bunsen, Christianity -and Mankind, III., 44. See also Guhrauer’s “Leibnitz: Eine -Biographie,” II., 129.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">[138]</a> See Denina’s La Prusse Litteraire, III., 83.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">[139]</a> He wrote chiefly in Russian. See Meusel’s Gelehrte -Deutschland, a dry but learned and accurate Dictionary of the -living writers of Germany in the end of the eighteenth century, -begun by Homberger in 1783, but continued by Meusel.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">[140]</a> Biogr. Univ., VI., 399.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">[141]</a> Biog. Univ., p. 402.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">[142]</a> Denina (Prusse Litteraire, III., p. 31) observes that the name -of Michaelis would appear to have had the profession of Oriental -literature as its peculiar inheritance.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">[143]</a> For a complete enumeration of his works see Meusel’s Gelehrte -Deutschland, II., 563.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">[144]</a> 3 vols., 8vo., London, 1827.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">[145]</a> Biographie Universelle, LVIII., p. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">[146]</a> Feller, I., 66. See also Bunsen, III., 42.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">[147]</a> Vol. I., p. xx.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">[148]</a> Bunsen’s “Christianity and Mankind,” III., p. 44.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">[149]</a> See preface of the <i>Vocabularia Comparativa</i>. Also Biographie -Universelle, XXXII., p. 440.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">[150]</a> The Japanese he learned from a shipwrecked native of Japan -whom he met at Irkutsch; probably the same mentioned in -“Golownin’s Narrative.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">[151]</a> Biogr. Univ., LXVIII., 532.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">[152]</a> Life and Letters of Niebuhr, I. p. 27-8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">[153]</a> “Christianity and Mankind,” III., p. 60.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">[154]</a> As a mere linguist I should name Dr. Pruner, a native of Bavaria, -but long a resident of Egypt, where he was physician of the -late Pasha. M. d’Abbadie states that Dr. Pruner is reputed to -speak twelve languages, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Latin, -German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">[155]</a> This Grammar has appeared in successive sections, commencing -in 1833, and only completed in 1852.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">[156]</a> Klaproth, the great explorer of the Caucasian languages, does -not properly belong to Schlegel’s school, as he comparatively overlooks -the great principle of Schlegel—the grammatical structure of -languages.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">[157]</a> Castrén was an accomplished writer both in his own language -and in German, and a poet of much merit. His Swedish version of -the old Finnic Saga “Kalevala,” is perhaps deserving of notice as -having furnished in its metre the model of the new English measure -adopted by Longfellow in his recent poem “Hiawatha.” Castrén’s -birth-place is close to Uleåborg, the spot resorted to commonly by -travellers who desire to witness the phenomenon of “the Midnight -Sun.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">[158]</a> Bunsen, III., p. 274.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">[159]</a> Bunsen, III., p. 53.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">[160]</a> Ibid, 270.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">[161]</a> In his “Comparative Grammar of the Drâvidian or South-Indian -Family of Languages.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">[162]</a> The fiercest of them all is contained not in the Journal, but in -a pamphlet which was distributed to members of the Society.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">[163]</a> Dr. Paul De Lagarde, for instance, has the reputation of knowing -above twenty languages.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">[164]</a> Christianity and Mankind, III., 271.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">[165]</a> Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, I. 450-3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">[166]</a> Cancellieri, Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria, e sugli Uomini -smemorati, p. 50-1.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">[167]</a> Life of James Crichton of Cluny, commonly called “the -Admirable Crichton.” Edinburgh, 1819.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">[168]</a> <i>Wonders of the Little World</i>, p. 286.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">[169]</a> II., p. 223.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">[170]</a> “New Atlantis.” Bacon’s Works, II., 84.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">[171]</a> Life of Edward Lord Clarendon, I., p. 35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">[172]</a> Literary History, II., 85.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">[173]</a> Church History, III., 87.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">[174]</a> Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 131.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">[175]</a> Ibid.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">[176]</a> Rose’s Biographical Dictionary, XI., 166.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">[177]</a> Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 131.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">[178]</a> Wilkins was an eminent mathematician, and one of the first -members of the Royal Society. But his reputation as a humourist -was his chief recommendation to Buckingham. His character in -many respects resembled that of Swift. One of his witticisms is -worth recording. After the first appearance of his well-known -Voyage to the Moon [“Discovery of a New World, with a Discourse -concerning the Possibility of a Voyage thither”], the eccentric -Duchess of Newcastle jestingly remarked to him that the only defect -in his account was that it omitted to tell where the voyagers would -find lodging and accommodation by the way. “That need present -no difficulty to your Grace,” said Wilkins; “you have built so many -<i>castles in the air</i> that <i>you</i> cannot be at any loss for accommodation -on the journey.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">[179]</a> He published the “Pantheisticon,” the most profane of all his -works, under this pseudonym. I regret to see that an elaborate -attempt to recall this long-forgotten book into notice, is made by Dr. -Hermann Hettner, in his “Geschichte der Englischen Literatur von -1660 bis 1770,” the first volume of which has just been published at -Leipsic (1856). Dr. Hettner has even been at the pains to translate -largely from its worst profanities.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">[180]</a> Disraeli’s Miscellanies, p. 110.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">[181]</a> Among the crowd of bubble companies which arose about the -time of the Revolution, was the “Royal Academies Company,” which -professed to have engaged the best masters in every department of -knowledge, and issued 20,000 tickets at twenty shillings each. The -fortunate holders were to be taught at the charge of the company! -Among the subjects of instruction languages held a high place; and -the scheme of education comprised Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, -and Spanish! See Macaulay’s History of England, IV., 307.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">[182]</a> Disraeli has a curious chapter on Henley, <i>Miscellanies</i>, pp. 73-8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">[183]</a> A plan for the promotion of Oriental studies, under the patronage -of the Company, formed one of the many magnificent schemes of -Warren Hastings, himself no mean linguist. Hastings consulted -Johnson on the subject; and it is observed as an evidence of his -extraordinary coolness and self-possession, that his letter, acknowledging -Johnson’s present of Sir W. Jones’s Persian Grammar, was -written in the midst of the excitement of one of the most eventful -days in his chequered life. See Croker’s Boswell’s Life of Johnson. -VIII., 38-42, and Macaulay’s Essays, p. 593.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">[184]</a> Even during an attack of ophthalmia he did not relax in his -application to study, but used to get some of his schoolfellows to -read for him while he was himself disabled from reading.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">[185]</a> Lord Teignmouth’s Life of Sir William Jones, II., 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">[186]</a> II., 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">[187]</a> He displayed great disinterestedness in the public service by -voluntarily relinquishing, several years before his death, (1836) a -large pension which he held under the crown.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">[188]</a> 1765-1837.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">[189]</a> Memorials of My Own Time, p. 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">[190]</a> Lockhart’s Life of Scott, I., p. 323.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">[191]</a> Life of Thomas Young, M.D. By George Peacock, D.D. -London, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">[192]</a> See an interesting memoir in the National Review, II., 69-97.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">[193]</a> Christianity and Mankind, III., 48.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">[194]</a> Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion, I., 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">[195]</a> See especially an exceedingly learned and interesting article in -the Dublin Review, Vol. XXXIX., pp. 199-244. on Dr. Donaldson’s -<i>Jashar</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">[196]</a> Illustrated London News, Feb. 10, 1856.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">[197]</a> See a memoir of Dr. Samuel Lee in Jerdan’s “Portrait Gallery,” -Vol. V.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">[198]</a> Journal of a Residence in London. By Nathaniel Wheaton, -A.M., p. 85.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">[199]</a> People’s Journal, Vol. I., p. 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">[200]</a> Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, art. Burritt.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">[201]</a> I must here acknowledge my especial obligations to Mr. Watts; -not alone for the facilities kindly afforded to me in consulting books -in the British Museum Library, but for the valuable assistance in -discovering the best sources of information which his extensive -acquaintance with Slavonic literature enabled him to render to me -in the inquiry.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">[202]</a> For some account of this traveller see Otto’s Lehrbuch der -Russischen Literatur, p. 231.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">[203]</a> König’s Literarische Bilder aus Russland, p. 33.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">[204]</a> Ibid.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">[205]</a> Otto’s Lehrbuch, p 246. Pameva was not properly a Russian, -having been born in Moldavia; but he became a monk at Kiew, -which thenceforward was the country of his adoption.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">[206]</a> Grammatica Russica et Manuductio ad Linguam Slavorum, -Oxford, 1696.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">[207]</a> See Guhrauer’s “<i>Leibnitz, eine Biographie</i>,” Vol. II., pp. 271-5, -for the details of this magnificent scheme.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">[208]</a> Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 179.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">[209]</a> See an article on “Russian Literature,” <i>Foreign Quart. Review</i>, -Vol. 1., p. 610.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">[210]</a> See an interesting notice in Otto’s Lehrbuch, <i>sub voce</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">[211]</a> Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 294. 5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">[212]</a> See König’s <i>Literarische Bilder aus Russland</i>, p. 38, also Otto’s -<i>Lehrbuch</i>, p. 204, and Bowring’s <i>Russian Anthology</i>, 1. 205. 8. His -works fill 6 vols. 8vo. 1804.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="label">[213]</a> Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 257.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="label">[214]</a> Biograph. Univ. VIII. p. 87.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="label">[215]</a> Otto’s Lehrbuch, p. 246.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="label">[216]</a> See an interesting sketch of this institute, by M. Dulaurier: -L’Institut Lazareff des Langues Orientales, Paris 1856.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="label">[217]</a> Dulaurier, p. 48.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="label">[218]</a> Historic View of the Language and Literature of the Slavonic -Nations, by Talvi—the pseudonym of Theresa A. L. von Jacob, -(formed of her several initials), daughter of the celebrated Professor -von Jacob, and now wife of Dr. Robinson the eminent American Biblical -scholar, p. 73.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="label">[219]</a> Ibid.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="label">[220]</a> Travels of the Russian Mission through Mongolia and China, -2 vols. 8vo, 1827.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="label">[221]</a> Historical View of Slavonic Languages, p. 32.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="label">[222]</a> Ibid, p. 98. His Georgian Dictionary obtained the Demidoff -prize. See catalogue de l’Academie Imperiale a St. Petersbourg, p. 58.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="label">[223]</a> 3 vols. 4to. Moscow, 1840.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224" class="label">[224]</a> Literarische Bilder aus Russland (König), pp. 312-21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225" class="label">[225]</a> Literature and Language of Slavonic Nations, p. 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226" class="label">[226]</a> In one vol. 4to, Petersburg, 1851.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227" class="label">[227]</a> De Origine et Rebus Gestis Polonorum, Lib. XXX., ibid. 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228" class="label">[228]</a> Lit. and Lang. of Slavonic Nations, p. 178.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229" class="label">[229]</a> The <i>Thesaurus</i> (4 vols, folio, Vienna 1680) supposes in its -author a knowledge of at least eight different languages, Arabic, -Persian, Turkish, Latin, Italian, French, German, and Polish. -Meninski was a man of indomitable energy. In two successive -pamphlets which he published in the course of a controversy which -he carried on with his great rival, Podestà (who was professor of -Arabic in the University) he went to the pains of actually <i>transcribing -with his own hand in each copy</i> the quotations from Oriental authors, -as there were no Oriental types in Vienna from which they could -be printed! Meninski’s Thesaurus, however, is best known from -the learned edition of it which was printed at Vienna (1780-1802) -under the revision of Baron von Ienisch, himself an Orientalist of -very high reputation, and for a considerable time interpreter of the -Austrian embassy at Constantinople.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230" class="label">[230]</a> Literature of Slavonic Nations, 270. See also an interesting -memoir in the <i>Biographie Universelle</i>. He was born at Warsaw in -1731, and survived till 1808.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231" class="label">[231]</a> See Biographie Universelle (Supplement), Vol. LVII., p. 589. -Italinski continued and completed D’Hancarville’s great work on -Etruscan Antiquities.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232" class="label">[232]</a> Ibid., p. 190.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233" class="label">[233]</a> See an interesting memoir in Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, -Vol. III., pp. 280-1.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234" class="label">[234]</a> See Staudenmaier’s “Pragmatismus der Geistes-gaben,” -[Tübingen 1835], and Englmann’s “Von der Charismen im allgemeinen, -und von dem Sprachen-charismen im Besondern.” -[Regensburg, 1848]. See also a long list of earlier writers (chiefly -Rationalistic) in Kuinoel’s “Commentarius in Libros N. T.” vol. -IV. pp. 40-2; also in Englmann, pp. 15-23.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235" class="label">[235]</a> Jost’s Geschichte der Israeliten, VI., 166.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236" class="label">[236]</a> P. 15. The example and patronage of Frederic tended much to -promote the revival of Oriental studies. Many of the earliest versions -of the works of Aristotle from the Arabic, were made under his -auspices or those of his son Manfred; among others (compare Jourdain’s -“Recherches sur les Traductions Latines d’Aristote,” p. 124, -Paris 1843; also Whewell’s “History of the Inductive Sciences,” I., -p. 343;) that of Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, a learned Orientalist -and an accomplished general scholar, although his traditionary -character is that of “the wizard Michael Scott.” His namesake, -Sir Walter, has immortalized him, not as a scholar, but as</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A wizard of such dreaded fame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That when, in Salamanca’s cave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him listed his magic wand to wave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bells would ring in Notre Dame!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Roger Bacon’s skill in Arabic and other Eastern tongues was -probably one of the causes which drew upon him the same evil -reputation. I should have mentioned Bacon among the few notable -mediæval linguists. He was “an industrious student of Hebrew, -Arabic, Greek, and the modern tongues.” (Milman’s Latin Christianity, -VI., p. 477). Perhaps I ought also to have named Albert the Great -(Ibid., p. 453); but I am rather disposed to believe that the knowledge -which he had of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic authors, was -derived from Latin versions, and not from the original works -themselves.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237" class="label">[237]</a> Gerbert travelled to Spain with the express purpose of studying -in the Arabian schools. See Hock’s “Sylvester II., und sein -Jahrhundert;” also Whewell’s “Inductive Sciences,” I., 273.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238" class="label">[238]</a> Duret’s <i>Thresor</i>, p. 963.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239" class="label">[239]</a> Paul IV. is mentioned by Cancellieri, as having known the entire -Bible by heart. He names several other men, (one of them <i>blind</i>,) -and <i>six ladies</i>, who could do the same; he tells of one man who could -repeat it in Hebrew.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240" class="label">[240]</a> Kemble’s Social and Political State of Europe, p. 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241" class="label">[241]</a> His full name is “Phra Bard Somdetch Phra Paramendt Maha -Mongkut Phra Chom Klau Chau Hu Yua.” <i>Bowring’s Siam</i>, (Dedication.) -The account of the king is most interesting.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242" class="label">[242]</a> Valery. Voyage Litteraire de l’Italie, p. 237. I have just -met a modern parallel for her. The brilliant Mme. Henrietta Herz, -according to her new biographer, Dr. Fürst, knew Hebrew, -Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, German, English, and Swedish, -besides a slight knowledge of Sanscrit, Turkish, and Malay—“Henriette -Herz, ihre Leben und Erinnerurgen,” Berlin, 1858.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243" class="label">[243]</a> Tiraboschi Storia, Vol. V., p. 358.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244" class="label">[244]</a> Valery, 237. Fleck (Wissenschaftliche Reise II., p. 97) says -Anatomy; but this is a mistake. There is a very interesting sketch -of Laura Bassi in Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, New Series, Vol. -XII., pp. 31-2. She was solemnly admitted to the degree of Doctor -of Philosophy in 1732.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245" class="label">[245]</a> Cancellieri, “Uomini di gran Memoria.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246" class="label">[246]</a> In the Bibliotheca Hispana, Vol. IV., pp. 344-53.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247" class="label">[247]</a> Ibid, p. 345.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248" class="label">[248]</a> Bibliotheca Hispana, vol. IV. p. 346.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249" class="label">[249]</a> P. 346. An ode of Lope Vega’s in her praise describes her as a -“fourth Grace,” and a “tenth Muse”—“que as hecho quatre las Gracias -y las Musas diez.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250" class="label">[250]</a> Fragments in Prose and Verse, by Elizabeth Smith. With a -Life by Mrs. Bowdler, (Bath, 1810,) p. 264.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251" class="label">[251]</a> Knight’s Cyclopædia of Biography, II. 419.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252" class="label">[252]</a> “Sugli Uomini di gran Memoria,” pp. 72-80.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253" class="label">[253]</a> His family name seems unknown; his father, who was a <i>facchino</i>, -(or porter,) being called simply <i>Il Modenese</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254" class="label">[254]</a> So marvellous was his performance, that it was seriously ascribed -to the Devil by Candido Brognolo, in his “<i>Alexicacon</i>,” (Venice -1663), and Padre Cardi thought it not beneath him to publish a -formal reply to this charge.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255" class="label">[255]</a> Feller, III. 132.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256" class="label">[256]</a> Ibid, p. 70.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257" class="label">[257]</a> Johnson’s Works, VI. p. 368-74.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258" class="label">[258]</a> The Biographie Universelle places Amaduzzi’s birth (curiously -enough for its coincidence with those of the three just mentioned), -in 1720: but this is a mistake; he was seventeen years old at the visit -of Joseph II. to Rome, in 1767. His birth therefore must be assigned -to 1750.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259" class="label">[259]</a> Cancellieri, pp. 84-7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260" class="label">[260]</a> The learned patristical scholar, John Baptist Cotelier, (Cotelerius,) -is another example of precocious development leading to solid -fruit. At twelve years of age Cotelier could read and translate -fluently any part of the Bible that was opened for him! I may also -recall here the case of Dr. Thomas Young, of whom I have already -spoken. His early feat of reading the entire Bible twice through -before he was four years old, is hardly less wonderful than any of -those above recorded. See National Review, vol. II. p. 69.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261" class="label">[261]</a> A vocalist, named H. K. von Freher, has appeared recently, who -advertises <i>to sing</i> in thirty-six different languages! He is a native -of Hungary. With how many of these languages, however, he professes -to be acquainted, and what degree of familiarity he claims -with each, I am unable to say; but he is described in the public -journals as “speaking English with purity;” and in one of his -latest performances he favoured the audience with “portions of -songs in no less than three or four and twenty different languages, -commencing with a Russian hymn, and proceeding on with a French -romance, a Styrian song, a Polish air, which he screeched most amusingly, -a Sicilian song, as dismal as the far-famed Vespers of that -country, a Canadian ditty, a Hungarian serenade, a Maltese air, -a Bavarian, a Neapolitan barcarole, a Hebrew psalm, a Tyrolean -air, in which the rapid changes from the basso profondo to the -falsetto had a most singular effect.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262" class="label">[262]</a> The title of this singular volume is worth transcribing: “Coryat’s -Crudities, hastily gobbled up in five months’ Travels in France, Savoy, -Italy, Rhetia, (commonly called the Grisons’ Country), Helvetia, -alias Switzerland, some parts of High Germany, and the Netherlands; -newly digested in the hungry air of Odcombe in the county of Somersetshire, -and now dispersed to the Nourishment of the travelling -Members of this Kingdom.” 4to. London, 1611. It is further -noticeable in this place for a polyglot appendix of quizzical verses in -Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, Welsh, Irish, Macaronic, -and Utopian, “by various hands.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263" class="label">[263]</a> 1 vol. 12mo, printed at Strawberry Hill, 1758, and re-printed -in Dodsley’s Collections, 1761.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264" class="label">[264]</a> This name was afterwards the subject of a punning epigram. -Mezzofanti is a compound word, (like the names Mezzaharba, Mezzavacca. -Mezzomorto, &c.,) and means <i>half-child</i>, [Mezzo-Fante.] -Hence the following distich:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Dimidium Fantis</i> jam nunc supereminct omnes!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quid, credis, fieret, si <i>integer</i> ipse foret?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265" class="label">[265]</a> In the Via Malcontenti. The house still exists, but has been -entirely remodelled. An inscription for the apartment in which -Mezzofanti was born was composed by D. Vincenzo Mignani:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Heic Mezzofantus natus, notissimus Orbi,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unus qui linguas calluit omnigenas.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Some years later Francis Mezzofanti removed to a house on the -opposite side of the same street, in which he thenceforward continued -to reside. This house also is still in existence, but has been -modernized. In the early part of the year 1800, Mezzofanti established -himself, together with the family of his sister, Signora Minarelli, -in a separate house, situated however in the same street: but, -from the time of his appointment as Librarian, in 1815, till his final -removal to Rome, he occupied the Librarian’s apartments in the -Palazzo Dell’ Università.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266" class="label">[266]</a> There has been some diversity of statement as to the year. The -<i>Enciclopedia Popolare</i> (Turin 1851, supp. p. 299,) hesitates between -1774 and 1771. But there can be no doubt that it was the former.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267" class="label">[267]</a> He merely learned to read and write.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268" class="label">[268]</a> Antonio Dall’ Olmo was a professor in the University so far -back as 1360. See Tiraboschi, “Letteratura Italiana,” V. p. 56.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269" class="label">[269]</a> Mingarelli has been a distinguished name in Bolognese letters. The -two brothers, Ferdinand and John Lewis, were among the most diligent -patristical students of the last century. To the latter (of -whom I shall have to speak hereafter,) we are indebted for a learned -edition of the lost Περὶ Tρiάδος of the celebrated Didymus, the blind -teacher of Alexandria; the former also is spoken of with high praise -by Tiraboschi, VII., 1073. This family, however, is different -from that of Minarelli, with which Mezzofanti was connected.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270" class="label">[270]</a> No fewer than eleven sons and four daughters. Of the sons only -two are now living—the Cavaliere Pietro Minarelli, who is a physician -and member of the Medical Faculty of Bologna, and the Cavaliere -Gaetano, an advocate and notary. A third son, Giuseppe, embraced -the ecclesiastical profession in which he rose to considerable -distinction. He was a linguist of some reputation, being acquainted -with no fewer than eight languages, (see the <i>Cantica di G. Morocco</i>, -p. 12, note,) an accomplishment which he owed mainly to the instruction -of his uncle. Some time after the departure of the latter for -Rome, Giuseppe was named Rector of the University of Bologna, -and honorary Domestic Prelate of the Pope Gregory XVI., -but he died at a comparatively early age in 1843. A fourth son, -Filippo, became an architect, but was disabled by a paralytic attack -from prosecuting his studies, and died after a lingering and painful -illness, July 23rd, 1839. The other sons died in childhood. The -four daughters, Maria, Anna, Gesualda, and Gertrude, still survive. -Maria and Gertrude married—the first, Signor Mazzoli, the second, -Signor Calori—and are now widows. Anna and Gesualda are unmarried. -The former resided with her uncle, from the time of his -elevation to the cardinalate till his death. She is said to be an -accomplished painter in water-colours. Her sister, Gesualda, is an -excellent linguist.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271" class="label">[271]</a> I take the earliest opportunity to express my most grateful acknowledgment -of the exceeding courtesy, not only of the Cavaliere -Minarelli and other members of Cardinal Mezzofanti’s family, but -of many other gentlemen of Bologna, Parma, Modena, Florence, -Rome, and Naples. I must mention with especial gratitude the -Abate Mazza, Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Seminary, at Bologna; -Cavaliere Angelo Pezzana, Librarian of the Ducal Library, at Parma; -Cavaliere Cavedoni, Librarian of Modena; Professor Guasti at -Florence; Padre Bresciani, the distinguished author of the “Ebreo -di Verona,” at Rome; the Rector and Vice-Rector of the Irish College, -and the Rector and Vice-Rector of the English College in the -same city; and Padre Vinditti of the Jesuit College at Naples. For -some personal recollections of Mezzofanti and his early friends, and -for other interesting information obtained from Bologna, I am indebted -to Dr. Santagata, to Mgr. Trombetti, and to the kind -offices of the learned Archbishop of Tarsus, Mgr. De Luca, Apostolic -Nuncio at Munich.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272" class="label">[272]</a> This anecdote was told to Cardinal Wiseman by the late Archdeacon -Hare, as current in Bologna during the residence of his -family in that city. The Archdeacon’s brother, Mr. Francis Hare, -was intimately acquainted with Mezzofanti during his early life, and -was for some time his pupil.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273" class="label">[273]</a> Headley’s “Letters from Italy,” pp. 152-3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274" class="label">[274]</a> Ibid, p. 152.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275" class="label">[275]</a> He published a number of polemical and moral treatises, which are -enumerated in the “Memorie di Religione,” a journal published at -Modena, vol IV., pp. 456-61, where will also be found an interesting -memoir of the author.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276" class="label">[276]</a> Another name, Molina, is mentioned, as one of his early masters, -in a rude poetical panegyric of the Cardinal, by an improvisatore -named Giovanni Masocco:—“Per la illustre e sempre cara Memoria -del Card. Giuseppe Mezzofanti,” [Roma 1849]. But I have not -learned any particulars regarding this Molina.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277" class="label">[277]</a> This at least was Thiulen’s ordinary department. See the <i>Memorie -di Religione</i>, already cited.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278" class="label">[278]</a> <i>Esquisse Historique sur le Cardinal Mezzofanti. Par A. Manavit.</i> -Paris, 1853, p. 15.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279" class="label">[279]</a> See the <i>Memorie di Religione</i>, vol. XV., where an interesting -biography of the Abate Ranzani will be found.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280" class="label">[280]</a> Manavit, “Esquisse Historique,” p. 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281" class="label">[281]</a> Ibid, p. 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282" class="label">[282]</a> Manavit assigns a much later date, 1791. But the short memoir -by Signor Stoltz, [Biografia del Cardinal Mezzofanti; Scritta -dall’ Avvocato G. Stoltz, Roma 1851,] founded upon information -supplied by the Cardinal’s family, which states that he had completed -his philosophy when he was but fifteen, (p. 6,) is much more reconcilable -with facts otherwise ascertained. His philosophical course -occupied three years. (See <i>De Josepho Mezzofantio, Sermones Duo auctore -Ant. Santagata</i>, published in the acts of the Institute of Bologna, -vol. V. p. 169, et seq.) His theological course (probably of four,) -was completed in 1796, or at farthest early in 1797. This would -clearly have been impossible in the interval assigned by Manavit.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283" class="label">[283]</a> One of these, <i>Reflessioni sul Manuale dei Teofilantropi</i>, is directed -against the singular half-religious, half-social confederation, -entitled “Theophilanthropists,” founded in 1795, by La Reveillere-Lepéaux, -one of the directors of the French Republic. These -treatises are noticed in the <i>Memorie di Religione</i>, 1822, 1823, and -1824. Joseph Voglio is not to be confounded with the physiologist -of the same name, (John Hyacinth,) who was also professor in Bologna, -but in the previous generation.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284" class="label">[284]</a> “De Josepho Mezzofantio Sermones Duo,” p. 172.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285" class="label">[285]</a> Manavit, p. 13.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286" class="label">[286]</a> Santagata’s “Sermones Duo,” p. 173.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287" class="label">[287]</a> Elementi della Lingua Greca, per uso delle Scuole di Bologna. -Bologna 1807.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288" class="label">[288]</a> See Kephalides “Reise durch Italien und Sicilien.” Vol. I. p. 29.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289" class="label">[289]</a> See two interesting articles in the “Historisch-Politische -Blätter,” vol. X. p. 200, and folio. The writer was the younger -Görres, (Guido,) son of the well-known professor of that name. -Most of his information as to the early life of Mezzofanti was derived -from the Cardinal himself, with whom, during a long sojourn in -Rome, in 1841-2, he formed a very close and intimate friendship, -and in company with whom he studied the Basque language. I have -spoken of Mingarelli in a former page.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290" class="label">[290]</a> Manavit, p. 17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291" class="label">[291]</a> Santagata, p. 171.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292" class="label">[292]</a> “Memorie di Religione,” vol. IV., p. 450.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293" class="label">[293]</a> Santagata “De Josepho Mezzofantio,” p. 185. “Applausi -dei Filopieri,” p. 12-3. Mezzofanti was more fortunate in this experiment -than the Frenchman mentioned in Moore’s “Diary,” (vol. -VI., p. 190,) who, after he had taken infinite pains to learn a language -which he <i>believed to be Swedish</i>, discovered, at the end of his -studies, that the language which he had acquired with so much labour -was <i>Bas-Breton</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294" class="label">[294]</a> M. Manavit (p. 19,) says, that he was at this time <i>twenty-two -years</i> old. But this is an error of a full year. He was born on -the 17th September, 1774; and therefore, before September 24th, -1797, had completed his twenty-third year. M. Manavit was probably -misled by the dispensation in age which was obtained for him. But -it must be recollected that such dispensation is required for all candidates -for priesthood under <i>twenty-four years</i> complete.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295" class="label">[295]</a> This date, and the others relating to his university career, have -(through the kindness of the Nuncio at Munich, Mgr. De Luca,) -been extracted for me from an autograph note, deposited by Mezzofanti -himself in the archives of the university of Bologna, on the -25th of April, 1815.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296" class="label">[296]</a> Santagata, Sermones, p. 190.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297" class="label">[297]</a> Manavit, p. 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298" class="label">[298]</a> Whewell’s Inductive Sciences, III. p. 86.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299" class="label">[299]</a> Manavit, p. 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300" class="label">[300]</a> Ibid, p. 29.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301" class="label">[301]</a> The learned and munificent Egidio Albornoz, whom English -readers probably know solely from the revolting picture in Bulwer’s -“Rienzi.” The Albornoz College was founded in pursuance of his -will, in 1377, with an endowment for twenty-four Spanish students, -and two chaplains. See Tiraboschi “Letteratura Italiana,” V. p. 58.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302" class="label">[302]</a> Görres, in the Histor. Polit. Blätter, X. p. 203.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303" class="label">[303]</a> Manavit, p. 21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304" class="label">[304]</a> Manavit, p. 23.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305" class="label">[305]</a> Ibid, pp. 104-5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306" class="label">[306]</a> Zach’s “Correspondance Astronomique,” vol. IV. p. 192.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307" class="label">[307]</a> Alison’s “History of Europe,” vol. IV. p. 241, (fifth edition).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308" class="label">[308]</a> Wap’s Mijne Reis naar Rome, in het Voorjaar van 1837. -2 vols. 8vo, Breda, 1838, II. p. 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309" class="label">[309]</a> p. 105.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310" class="label">[310]</a> Santagata “Sermones,” p. 189.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311" class="label">[311]</a> Ibid, p. 189.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312" class="label">[312]</a> Lexicon Heptaglotton, Preface.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_313" href="#FNanchor_313" class="label">[313]</a> Disraeli’s Curiosities of Literature, p. 372.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_314" href="#FNanchor_314" class="label">[314]</a> Ibid, 369.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_315" href="#FNanchor_315" class="label">[315]</a> Historisch-Polit. Blätter, Vol. X., p. 204.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_316" href="#FNanchor_316" class="label">[316]</a> It would be curious to collect the opinions of scholars upon the -amount of time which may profitably be devoted to study. Some -students, like those named above, and others who might easily have -been added;—as the celebrated Père Hardouin; or the ill-fated -Robert Heron, who died in Newgate in 1807, and who for many -years had spent from twelve to sixteen hours a day at his desk -[Disraeli, p. 84];—place no limit to the time of study beyond that -of the student’s physical powers of endurance. On the other hand, -Sir Matthew Hale (see Southey’s Life, IV., 357) said that six hours -a day were as much as any student could usefully bear; and even -Lord Coke was fully satisfied with eight. Much, of course, must -depend on the individual constitution; but of the two opinions the -latter is certainly nearer the truth.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_317" href="#FNanchor_317" class="label">[317]</a> In “Lettere di Varii illustri Itali, del Secolo XVII., e del -Secolo XVIII.” Vol. III., p. 183. Count Stratico is the well-known -mathematician, the friend and colleague of Volta in the -University of Pavia.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_318" href="#FNanchor_318" class="label">[318]</a> A Mission had existed in Congo since the end of the fifteenth -century.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_319" href="#FNanchor_319" class="label">[319]</a> “Ragguaglio del Viaggio compendioso d’un Dilettante Antiquario -sorpreso da’ Corsari, condotto in Barberia, e felicemente ripatriato.” -2 vols. Milan, 1805-6. The work is anonymous, but the authorship -is plain from the passport and other circumstances. I am indebted -for the knowledge of the book (which is now rare) to Mr. Garnett -of the British Museum. A tolerably full account of it may be found -in the <i>Bibliothèque Universelle de Genêve</i> (a continuation of the -<i>Bibliothèque Britannique</i>) vol. VIII., pp. 388-408.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_320" href="#FNanchor_320" class="label">[320]</a> A similar narrative was published as late as 1817 by Pananti. -“Avventure ed Osservazioni sopra le Coste di Barberia.” Firenze -1817. It was translated into English by Mr. Blacquiere, and published -in 1819. In the end of the seventeenth century, France and -England severally compelled the Dey of Algiers to enter into treaties -by which their subjects were protected from these piratical outrages; -and in the following century, the increasing naval power of the other -great European states tended to secure for them a similar immunity. -But the weaker maritime states of the Mediterranean, especially -Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, were still exposed not only to -attacks upon their vessels at sea, but even to descents upon their shores, -in which persons of every age and sex were carried off and sold into -slavery. The long wars of the Revolution secured a sort of impunity -for these outrages, which at length reached such a height, that when, -in 1816, the combined English and Dutch squadron under Lord -Exmouth destroyed the arsenal and fleet of Algiers, the number of -Christian captives set at liberty was no less than ten hundred and -eighty-three. Nevertheless even still the evil was not entirely abated; -nor can the secure navigation of the Mediterranean be said to have -been completely established till the final capture of Algiers by the -French under Duperre and Bourmont, in 1830.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_321" href="#FNanchor_321" class="label">[321]</a> In virtue of a treaty made in 1683, after the memorable bombardment -of Algiers by Admiral Du Quesne.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_322" href="#FNanchor_322" class="label">[322]</a> The Moorish form of the common Arabic name <i>Tezkerah</i>, [in -Egypt, (see Burton’s “Medinah and Meccah,” I. 26.) Tazkirêh] of a -passport. The Moorish Arabic differs considerably (especially in the -vowel sounds,) from the common dialect of the East. Caussin de -Percival’s Grammar contains both dialects, and a special Grammar -of Moorish Arabic was published at Vienna by Dombay, of which -Mezzofanti was already possessed (inf. 178.) Both the Grammars -named above are in the Mezzofanti Library. <i>Catalogo</i>, pp. 14 and -17. Father Caronni gives a fac-simile of a portion of the <i>Tiscara</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_323" href="#FNanchor_323" class="label">[323]</a> Sidi Hamudah had been Bey of Tunis from the year 1782, when -he succeeded his brother, Ali Bey. He survived till 1815. His -reign is described as the Augustan age of Tunis (Diary of a Tour -in Barbary, II. 79). Father Caronni tells of him that when one of -his generals,—a Christian,—was about to become a Mahomedan in -the hope of ingratiating himself with Hamudah, he rebuked the renegade -for his meanness. “A hog,” said he, “remains always a hog -in my eyes, even though he has lost his tail.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_324" href="#FNanchor_324" class="label">[324]</a> This month is called in the common Arabic of Egypt <i>Gumada</i>. -There are two of the Mahomedan months called by this name, -<i>Gumada-l-Oola</i>, and <i>Gumada-t-Taniyeh</i> (Lane’s Modern Egyptians, -I. 330). The latter, which is the sixth month of the year, is the -one meant here. As the Mahomedan year consists of only three -hundred and fifty days, it is hardly necessary to say that its months -do not permanently correspond with those of our year. They retrograde -through the several seasons during a cycle of thirty-three years.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_325" href="#FNanchor_325" class="label">[325]</a> The year of the Hegira, 1219, corresponds with A.D. 1804.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_326" href="#FNanchor_326" class="label">[326]</a> Ragguaglio del Viaggio, vol. II. p. 140-1. Milan 1806.—The -book, though exceedingly rambling and discursive, is not uninteresting. -The second part contains the Author’s antiquarian speculations, which -curiously anticipate some of the results of the recent explorations -at Tunis.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_327" href="#FNanchor_327" class="label">[327]</a> Moore’s “Diary.” III. 138.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_328" href="#FNanchor_328" class="label">[328]</a> This book is still in the Mezzofanti Library. It is entitled -<i>Anthologia Persiana: Seu selecta e diversis Persicis Auctoribus in -Latinum translata, 4to.</i> Vienna, 1778. See the “Catalogo della -Libreria del Card. Mezzofanti,” p. 109.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_329" href="#FNanchor_329" class="label">[329]</a> Bodoni was the printer of De Rossi’s “Epithalamium” of Prince -Charles Emmanuel, in twenty-five languages, alluded to in page 33. -I should say however, that some of his classics,—especially his -“Virgilii Opera,” although beautiful specimens of typography, have -but little critical reputation.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_330" href="#FNanchor_330" class="label">[330]</a> “Grammatica Linguæ Mauro-Arabicæ, juxta vernaculi Idiomatis -Usum.” 4to. Vienna, 1800. See the “Catalogo della Libreria -Mezzofanti” p. 14.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_331" href="#FNanchor_331" class="label">[331]</a> “Institutiones Linguæ Turcicæ, cum Rudimentis parallelis Linguarum -Arabicæ et Persicæ.” 2 vols. 4to. Vienna, 1756. “Catalogo,” -p. 36.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_332" href="#FNanchor_332" class="label">[332]</a> An intended reprint of the edition of the <i>Divan</i>, which was -published at Calcutta, 1791.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_333" href="#FNanchor_333" class="label">[333]</a> Probably the “Lexicon Hebraicum Selectum;” or the “Dissertation -on an edition of the Koran,” both of which were published at -Parma, in 1805. See “Catalogo della Lib. Mezzofanti,” p. 17 and -p. 40.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_334" href="#FNanchor_334" class="label">[334]</a> It was on occasion of one of Volta’s demonstrations that Napoleon -made the comparison which has since become celebrated. “Here, -doctor,” said he, to his physician Corvisart, pointing to the Voltaic -pile; “here is the image of life! The vertebral column is the pile: -the liver is the negative, the bladder, the positive pole.” See -Whewell’s Inductive Sciences, III. 87.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_335" href="#FNanchor_335" class="label">[335]</a> For instance among the books which he asks the Count in this -letter to send, are the works of “<i>l’immortale Haüy</i>”—the celebrated -Abbé Haüy, who after Romè de l’Isle, is the founder of the science -of Crystallography, and who at this time was at the height of his -brilliant career of discovery. (Whewell’s “Inductive Sciences” III. -222.) Haüy’s works were intended for his friend Ranzani.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_336" href="#FNanchor_336" class="label">[336]</a> He alludes to the <i>Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana</i>. -Joseph Assemani’s nephew, Stephen Evodius, compiled a catalogue -of the Oriental MSS. at Florence.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_337" href="#FNanchor_337" class="label">[337]</a> The exact title is “Geschichte der Scherifen, oder der Könige -des jetzt regierendes Hauses zu Marokko.” It was published, not -at Vienna, as this letter supposes, but at Agram, in 1801.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_338" href="#FNanchor_338" class="label">[338]</a> A Moorish physician of Cordova, in the twelfth century, variously -called <i>Albucasa</i>, <i>Buchasis</i>, <i>Bulcaris</i>, <i>Gafar</i>; but properly <i>Abul -Cassem Khalaf Ben Abbas</i>. There are many early Latin translations -of his work. A very curious edition, with wood-cuts, (Venice, -1500,) is in the British Museum. The one referred to in this letter -is in Arabic and Latin, 2 vols. 4to.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_339" href="#FNanchor_339" class="label">[339]</a> “Arabisches, Syrisches, und Chaldäisches Lesebuch, Von -Friederich Theodor Rink und J. Severinus Vater,” Leipsic, 1802. -Rink, Professor of Theology and of Oriental Languages, at Heidelberg, -was an orientalist of considerable eminence. Vater is, of -course, the well-known successor of Adelung as editor of the <i>Mithridates</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_340" href="#FNanchor_340" class="label">[340]</a> Thus, in one of Mezzofanti’s letters, in 1812, he speaks of “Le -molestie che si spesso Le ho date colle mie lettere.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_341" href="#FNanchor_341" class="label">[341]</a> M. Patru spent three years in translating Cicero’s “Pro Archia;” -and in the end, had not satisfied himself as to the rendering of the -very first sentence.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_342" href="#FNanchor_342" class="label">[342]</a> Moore’s <i>Diary</i>, III., 183.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_343" href="#FNanchor_343" class="label">[343]</a> D’ Israeli’s Curiosities of Literature, p. 524.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_344" href="#FNanchor_344" class="label">[344]</a> Moore’s <i>Diary</i>, III., 183.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_345" href="#FNanchor_345" class="label">[345]</a> See Historisch-Politische Blätter, x. 203-4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_346" href="#FNanchor_346" class="label">[346]</a> See Alison’s History of Europe, Vol. vi., p. 371-2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_347" href="#FNanchor_347" class="label">[347]</a> Santagata “Sermones Duo,” p. 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_348" href="#FNanchor_348" class="label">[348]</a> By his celebrated Essay “Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der -Indier,” 1808.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_349" href="#FNanchor_349" class="label">[349]</a> As this letter may perhaps possess some bibliographical value, -I shall translate it here—</p> - -<p>“In making the catalogue for the library of His Excellency -Count Marescalchi, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the kingdom of -Italy, I have discovered a copy of the Siliprandine edition of Petrarch, -which corresponds exactly to the very full description published by -you, except that in this one the table of contents is at the close, in -which place you remark, (at page 35,) it would stand better than in -that which it occupies in your Parma copies. The leaves are 188 in -number, as there happens to be a second blank one before the index.</p> - -<p>“I mention the fact to you at the suggestion of His Excellency; but -I gladly avail myself of the opportunity which the communication -affords me of thanking you in writing for your kindness in presenting -me with your learned letter upon the present edition, together with -your valuable bibliographical notices of the two exceedingly rare -editions of the 15th century,” and of renewing, at the same time, -the assurance of my respect and esteem.</p> - -<p>“Bologna, Nov. 30, 1811.”</p> - -<p>The title of Pezzana’s essay is “Noticie bibliographiche intoruo a due rarissime -edizioni del Petrarca del Secolo xv.,” Parma: 1808. It is printed by Bodoni.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_350" href="#FNanchor_350" class="label">[350]</a> <i>Opere di Pietro Giordani, Vols. I.-VI.</i> Milano, 1845. Giordani -is mentioned by Byron, (Life and Journals, VI, 262,) as one of the -few “foreign literary men whom he ever could abide.” It is curious -that the only other name which he adds is that of Mezzofanti.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_351" href="#FNanchor_351" class="label">[351]</a> Opere di Pietro Giordani: Edited (with a biography) by Antonio -Gussalli. Gussalli is also the translator of F. Cordara’s “Expedition -of Charles Edward,” Milan: 1845. See Quarterly Review, lxxix., -pp. 141-68.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_352" href="#FNanchor_352" class="label">[352]</a> Ibid, pp. 235-36</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_353" href="#FNanchor_353" class="label">[353]</a> Cicognara is mentioned by Byron in the Dedication of the Fourth -Canto of Childe Harold (VIII. 192.) among “the great names which -Italy has still.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_354" href="#FNanchor_354" class="label">[354]</a> Ibid, p. 240.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_355" href="#FNanchor_355" class="label">[355]</a> Opere di Pietro Giordani, II. 231.—Letter to Leopoldo Cicognara, -Jan. 30.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_356" href="#FNanchor_356" class="label">[356]</a> Santagata “Sermones,” p. 20-1. There is a mixture of humour -and stateliness in the Doctor’s Latin rendering of the exclamation;—“<i>Ædepol, -est Diabolus!</i>”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_357" href="#FNanchor_357" class="label">[357]</a> “Orazioni Funebrie Discorsi Panegyrici, di quelli pronunciati -da Moise S. Beer, già Rabbino Maggiore presso l’Università Israelitica -di Roma.” Fascicolo primo. Livorno 1837. The name <i>Beer</i> -is an eminent one among the German Jews. The dramatist Michael -Beer of Berlin; his brother, William Beer the astronomer; and -a second brother, Meyer Beer the composer, (commonly written as -one name, <i>Meyerbeer</i>,) have made it known throughout Europe. -Possibly Moses Beer was of the same family.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_358" href="#FNanchor_358" class="label">[358]</a> See Stolz, “Biografia,” p. 12, Manavit, “Esquisse Historique,” p. 34.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_359" href="#FNanchor_359" class="label">[359]</a> Memorandum in the archives of the University of Bologna.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_360" href="#FNanchor_360" class="label">[360]</a> Many of these will be found in Mr. Watts’s interesting paper -read before the Philological Society, January 23, 1852: “On the -Extraordinary Powers of Cardinal Mezzofanti as a Linguist.” Some -other notices, not contained in that Paper, have since been kindly -pointed out to me by the same gentleman. I have been enabled to -add several, hitherto unpublished, certainly not inferior in authority -and interest to any of the published testimonies.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_361" href="#FNanchor_361" class="label">[361]</a> He is so described by Baron Zach, (Correspondance Astronomique, -IV. 145,) who commends the work highly.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_362" href="#FNanchor_362" class="label">[362]</a> Kephalides, “Reise durch Italien und Sicilien,” vol. I. p. 28. -The book is in two volumes, and has no date. The above passage -is quoted in Vulpius’s singular miscellany, “Curiositäten der -physisch-literarisch-artistisch-historischen Vor- und Mit-welt.” Vol. -X. p. 422. The Article contains nothing else of interest regarding -Mezzofanti; but it alludes to some curious examples of extraordinary -powers of memory.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_363" href="#FNanchor_363" class="label">[363]</a> MS. Memorandum in the University Archives.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_364" href="#FNanchor_364" class="label">[364]</a> The exact amount I am unable to state. But that, according -to our notions, it was very humble, may be inferred from the fact -that, in the same University and but a short time before, Giordani’s -income from the united offices of Lecturer on Latin and Italian -Eloquence and Assistant Librarian, was but 1800 francs. See his -Life by Gussalli, “<i>Opere</i>,” Vol. I., p. 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_365" href="#FNanchor_365" class="label">[365]</a> MS. Memorandum in the University Archives.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_366" href="#FNanchor_366" class="label">[366]</a> “Tragedie di Sofocle, recate in Versi Italiani da Massimo -Angelelli.” 2 vols., 4to. Bologna, 1823-4. This translation is highly -commended by Federici, in his “Notizie degli Scrittori Greci e delle -Versioni Italiane delle loro Opere,” p. 95.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_367" href="#FNanchor_367" class="label">[367]</a> See Adelung’s “Mithridates,” II., 723-30. I refer to this -passage particularly, as explaining the peculiar difficulty which -Wallachian, as a spoken language, presents to a foreigner, from <i>its -close resemblance to other languages</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_368" href="#FNanchor_368" class="label">[368]</a> Manavit, p. 37.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_369" href="#FNanchor_369" class="label">[369]</a> Besides the <i>Sette Communi</i> of Vicenza, there are also thirteen -parishes in the province of Verona, called the <i>Tredici Communi</i>;—evidently -of the same Teutonic stock, and a remnant of the same Roman -slaughter. Adelung (II., 215) gives a specimen of each language. Both -are perfectly intelligible to any German scholar: but that of Verona -resembles more nearly the modern form of the German language. -The affinity is much more closely preserved in both, than it is in the -analogous instance of the Roman colony in Transylvania. I may be -permitted to refer to the very similar example of an isolated race and -language which subsisted <i>among ourselves</i> down to the last generation, -in the Baronies of Forth and Bargie in the county of Wexford in -Ireland. The remnant of the first English or Welsh adventurers -under Strongbow, who obtained lands in that district, maintained -themselves, through a long series of generations, distinct in manners, -usages, costume, and even language, both from the Irish population, -and, what is more remarkable, from the <i>English settlers of all subsequent -periods</i>. An essay on their peculiar dialect, with a vocabulary -and a metrical specimen, by Vallancey, will be found in the Transactions -of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. II. (Antiquities), -pp. 194-3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_370" href="#FNanchor_370" class="label">[370]</a> Eustace’s Classical Tour in Italy, I., 142. The fact of Frederic’s -visit is mentioned by Maffei, in his Verona Illustrata.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_371" href="#FNanchor_371" class="label">[371]</a> Memoirs of Robert Southey, Vol. V., p. 60.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_372" href="#FNanchor_372" class="label">[372]</a> Life of Michael Angelo Buonarroti, 2 vols., 8vo. London, 1857.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_373" href="#FNanchor_373" class="label">[373]</a> Treasures of Art in England. By Dr. Waagen. Vol. III., -pp. 187-94.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_374" href="#FNanchor_374" class="label">[374]</a> I find the work (Croker’s Edition, London, 1847) in the Catalogue -of the “Libreria Mezzofanti,” p. 72.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_375" href="#FNanchor_375" class="label">[375]</a> I may add that, in order to guard against any possible misapprehension -of Mr. Harford’s opinion, I called his attention to the doubt -which has arisen on the subject. In reply Mr. Harford assured me -that he himself heard Mezzofanti <i>speak</i> Welsh at his first visit to -Bologna, in 1817.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_376" href="#FNanchor_376" class="label">[376]</a> Letters from the North of Italy, Vol. II., p. 54.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_377" href="#FNanchor_377" class="label">[377]</a> See Life, IV., p. 32. He had not visited Bologna in the interval.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_378" href="#FNanchor_378" class="label">[378]</a> Perhaps it might be inferred from the false spelling of the name—the -use of <i>ph</i> for <i>f</i>—(a blunder which violates so fundamental a -rule of Italian orthography as to betray a mere tyro in the study) that -this passage was penned soon after Byron’s arrival in Italy. But -Byron’s orthography was never a standard.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_379" href="#FNanchor_379" class="label">[379]</a> Manavit, p. 106.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_380" href="#FNanchor_380" class="label">[380]</a> Life and Works, IV., 262-3. It may be worth while to note -this curious and characteristic passage, as an example of what -Byron has been so often charged with—unacknowledged, (and perhaps -unconscious) plagiarisms from authors or works which are but -little known. The idea of “a universal interpreter at the time of -the tower of Babel,” is copied literally from Pope’s metrical version -of the second satire of Dr. Donne, to the hero of which the same -illustration is applied, in exactly the same way.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thus others’ talents having nicely shown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He came by sure transition to his own;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till I cried out: ‘You prove yourself so able,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Pity you was not druggerman</i> [dragoman] <i>at Babel!</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0">For had they found a linguist half so good,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I make no question but the Tower had stood.’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_381" href="#FNanchor_381" class="label">[381]</a> Yet not without foundation in fact. My friend Mr. James E. -Doyle, was assured by the late Dr. Charles R. Walsh (an English -surgeon of great ability, who fell a victim to his exertions as an -officer of the Board of Health, during the last cholera in London), -that he once heard Mezzofanti “doing” the slang of a London cabman -in great perfection.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_382" href="#FNanchor_382" class="label">[382]</a> Gaume, “Les Trois Rome,” II., p. 415.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_383" href="#FNanchor_383" class="label">[383]</a> Santagata, “Sermones Duo,” p. 11.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_384" href="#FNanchor_384" class="label">[384]</a> Santagata, pp. 19-20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_385" href="#FNanchor_385" class="label">[385]</a> Bologna, 1820.—It was on the occasion of the celebration of -Father Aponte’s “Jubilee”—the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination -as priest—that Mezzofanti addressed to him the Hebrew Psalm -which will be found in the Appendix.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_386" href="#FNanchor_386" class="label">[386]</a> Reise durch Italien, I. p. 30-2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_387" href="#FNanchor_387" class="label">[387]</a> Biographie Universelle (Brussels Edition), XIX., 50-1.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_388" href="#FNanchor_388" class="label">[388]</a> Italy, I., 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_389" href="#FNanchor_389" class="label">[389]</a> Lady Morgan’s Italy, Vol. I., p. 200.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_390" href="#FNanchor_390" class="label">[390]</a> This was not a mere joke. The Bolognese dialect has so many -peculiarities that, at least by any other than an Italian, it might well -deserve to be specially enumerated as a distinct acquisition. It has -even a kind of literature of its own;—a comedy of the 16th century, -entitled <i>Filolauro</i>; a version of the <i>Gerusalemme Liberata</i>; and -several other works named by Adelung (II., 514). The Bolognese -Pater Noster is as follows:—</p> - -<p>“Pader noster, ch’ si in cil, si pur santifica al voster nom; vegna -’l voster reyn; sia fatta la vostra volontà, com in cil, cosi in terra; -’l noster pan quotidian daz incu; e perdonaz i noster debit, sicom -no alteri perdonen ai noster debitur; en c’indusi in Tentazion; ma -liberaz da mal. Amen.” Adelung, II., 515.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_391" href="#FNanchor_391" class="label">[391]</a> Molbech’s Reise giennem en Deel af Tydskland, Frankrige -England, og Italien, i Aarene 1819 og 1820, vol. iii. p. 319, and -following.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_392" href="#FNanchor_392" class="label">[392]</a> The <i>Danske Ordbog</i>; first published in Copenhagen in 1833. -The veteran author, now in his seventy-first year, is actively employed -in preparing a new edition with large additions and improvements.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_393" href="#FNanchor_393" class="label">[393]</a> Manavit, p. 50.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_394" href="#FNanchor_394" class="label">[394]</a> Ibid, p. 51.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_395" href="#FNanchor_395" class="label">[395]</a> Letter of the Abate Matranga, dated August 17, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_396" href="#FNanchor_396" class="label">[396]</a> Correspondance Astronomique, February 20. The reader may -be puzzled at this seemingly anticipatory date; but the issue of the -journal was extremely irregular, and the February number was in -reality not published till after September in that year.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_397" href="#FNanchor_397" class="label">[397]</a> Correspondance Astronomique, vol. iv. pp. 191-2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_398" href="#FNanchor_398" class="label">[398]</a> Correspondance Astronomique, vol. v. p. 160.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_399" href="#FNanchor_399" class="label">[399]</a> Correspondance Astronomique, v. 163.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_400" href="#FNanchor_400" class="label">[400]</a> Vol. I. pp. 481-2, London, 1844.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_401" href="#FNanchor_401" class="label">[401]</a> In accounting for the appearance of such a narrative in a Journal -with a purely scientific title, Admiral Smyth observes, that “it was -one of Von Zach’s axioms that all true friends of science should try to -keep it afloat in society, as fishermen do their nets, by attaching pieces -of cork to the seine; and therefore he embodied a good deal of -anecdote in his monthly journal of astronomical correspondence, a -most delightful and useful periodical.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_402" href="#FNanchor_402" class="label">[402]</a> Mezzofanti and his friend presented to the Admiral the first -volume of the “Ephemerides,” which contained the coefficients for -the principal stars to be observed during five years—there were still -at that time three years to run;—and expressed a hope that England -would contribute funds towards the cost of the printing. On returning -to England, the admiral gave this copy to the Rev. Dr. -William Pearson, then engaged in the publication of his elaborate -work on Practical Astronomy. Dr. Pearson, (at p. 495 of the -first volume,) describing a table of 520 zodiacal stars, thus acknowledges -his obligations to that work. “The same page also contains -the N.E. angle that the star’s meridian makes with the ecliptic, and -the annual variation of that angle; the principal columns of which -have been taken from the <i>Bononiæ Ephemerides</i> for 1817-1822, -computed by Pietro Caturegli, which computations have greatly -facilitated our labours.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_403" href="#FNanchor_403" class="label">[403]</a> Borrow’s Gipsies in Spain, p. 240. Ample specimens and descriptions -of it are given by Adelung, vol. I. pp. 244-52. It may, perhaps, -be necessary to add that neither of these dialects, nor indeed of any -of the dialects used by European gipsies, bears the least resemblance -(although often confounded with it) to the “thieves’ slang,” which is -used by robbers and other <i>mauvais sujets</i> in various countries,—the -“Rothwälsch” (Red Italian) of Germany, the “Argot” of France, -the “Germania” of Spain, and the “Gergo” of Italy. All these, like -the English “slang,” consist chiefly of words borrowed from the languages -of the several countries in which they prevail, applied in a -hidden sense known only to the initiated. On the contrary the gipsy -idiom is almost a language properly so called. See a singular chapter -in Borrow’s Gipsies in Spain, 242-57. For a copious vocabulary of the -“Argot” of the French thieves, see M. Nisard’s most curious and -amusing <i>Litterature du Colportage</i>, II. 383-403.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_404" href="#FNanchor_404" class="label">[404]</a> Blume’s Iter Italicum, II. p. 152.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_405" href="#FNanchor_405" class="label">[405]</a> In 1823. See an interesting biography in the Memorie di Modena.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_406" href="#FNanchor_406" class="label">[406]</a> Manavit, p. 51.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_407" href="#FNanchor_407" class="label">[407]</a> I may preserve here an impromptu Greek distich of Mezzofanti’s, -addressed to Cavedoni on the publication of his “Memoir on the -antiquities of the Museum of Modena,” which, although commonplace -enough in sentiment, at least illustrates his curious facility of -versification.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14">“Εις Kαιλεστινον Kαυεδόνιον.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Μνήματα τῶν πάλαι ἄνθρwπων σοφὸς ὅσσ’ ἀναφαίνεις,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἔκ χρόνος ὂυ πέρθει· σὄν δὲ κλέος θαλέθει.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It was an impromptu in the literal sense of the word, being -thrown off without a moment’s thought, and in the midst of a group -of friends. His friend Ferrucci rendered it into the following Latin -distich.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14">Celestino Cavedonio.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Omnia que prudens aperis monumenta priorum</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ævo intacta manent: hinc tibi fama viget.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_408" href="#FNanchor_408" class="label">[408]</a> “L’Eneide di Virgilio, recata in versi Italiani, da Annibale Caro,” -2 vols. folio. It was printed by De Romanis. The duchess was the Lady -Elizabeth Hervey, daughter of the episcopal Earl of Bristol; and after -the death of her first husband, Mr. Forster, had married the Duke -of Devonshire. She is the true heroine of Gibbon’s ludicrous love-scene -at Lausanne, described by Lord Brougham, but by him related -of Mademoiselle Susan Curchod, afterwards Madame Necker. See -an article in the Biographie Universelle, (lxii, p. 452,) by the -Chevalier Artand de Montor; also “Critical and Miscellaneous -Essays, (vol. i., p. 64,) by an Octogenarian,” (the late Mr. -James Roche, of Cork, the J. R. of the Gentleman’s Magazine, and -a frequent contributor to the Dublin Review, and other periodicals)—a -repertory of curious literary and personal anecdotes, as well of -solid and valuable information.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_409" href="#FNanchor_409" class="label">[409]</a> This is probably the Grammar of the Mahratta language, published -by the Propaganda, in 1778. The name is sometimes latinized -in this form. Adelung, I., 220.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_410" href="#FNanchor_410" class="label">[410]</a> Most likely Ludolf’s, Francfort, 1698.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_411" href="#FNanchor_411" class="label">[411]</a> By Barth. Ziegenbolg, Halle, 1716.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_412" href="#FNanchor_412" class="label">[412]</a> Bernard Havestadt, “Descriptio Status tum Naturalis, tum -civilis, tum Moralis, Regni Populique Chilensis,” Munster, 1777. It -contains a Chilian Grammar and Vocabulary, together with a Catechism -in prose, and also in verse.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_413" href="#FNanchor_413" class="label">[413]</a> Probably the Catechism in the Moxa (South American) language, -mentioned by Hervas. See Adelung, III., 564.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_414" href="#FNanchor_414" class="label">[414]</a> Fr. Jacobs, Vermischte Schriften, vol. vi. p. 517, and following.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_415" href="#FNanchor_415" class="label">[415]</a> Stolz. <i>Biografia</i>, p. 10. For the details, however, I am indebted -to an interesting communication from the abate Mazza, Vice-Rector -of the Pontifical Seminary at Bologna.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_416" href="#FNanchor_416" class="label">[416]</a> The author of this version, Ercole Faello, is not mentioned by -Tiraboschi, nor can I find any other notice of him. His version has -no value, except perhaps as a bibliographical curiosity; and Mezzofanti’s -criticism of it in his letter to Cavedoni, is the most judicious -that could be offered—the simple recital of a few sentences as a specimen -of its obscure and involved style. The Tetrasticha, especially, -deserves a better rendering. It consists of fifty-nine iambic tetrastichs, -many of which, besides the solid instruction which they embody, -are full of simple beauty. The Monosticha is chiefly notable -as an ancient example of an acrostic poem on a spiritual subject. It -consists of twenty-four iambic verses, commencing in succession with -the successive letters of the alphabet, thus:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ἀρχήν ἁπάντω· καὶ τὲλος ποιὂυ Θεόν·</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Βίου τὸ κέρδος ὲκβιοῦ καθ’ ἡμέραν. κ.τ.λ.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Faello’s version appears not to have been known to the Benedictine -editors.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_417" href="#FNanchor_417" class="label">[417]</a> See <i>Catalogo della Libreria</i>, p. 65.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_418" href="#FNanchor_418" class="label">[418]</a> For an account of these books see Father Vincenzo Sangermano’s -<i>Relazione del Regno Barmano</i>, Rome, 1833. Sangermano was a -Barnabite Father, and had been for many years a missionary in Ava -and Pegu. He states that he himself translated these sacred books. -(p. 359.) His orthography of the names is slightly different from -Mezzofanti’s.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_419" href="#FNanchor_419" class="label">[419]</a> Idler in Italy, III. p. 321.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_420" href="#FNanchor_420" class="label">[420]</a> Padre Scandellari died in December, 1831. He is spoken of in -terms of high praise in the Gazzetta di Bologna for Dec. 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_421" href="#FNanchor_421" class="label">[421]</a> Madame de Chaussegros was the widow of the officer by whom -Toulon was surrendered to the English, in 1793.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_422" href="#FNanchor_422" class="label">[422]</a> In the hope of arriving at a still more accurate estimate of -Mezzofanti’s performance in German conversation, I wrote to request -of Dr. Tholuck a note of the “four minor mistakes” to which he -alluded. Unfortunately the memorandum which he had made at the -time, although he recollects to have observed it quite recently in his -papers, has been mislaid, as has also been the Persian distich which -Mezzofanti composed during the interview.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_423" href="#FNanchor_423" class="label">[423]</a> At the time of the Restoration, Cornish was still a living language, -especially in the West; but, a century later it had quite -disappeared, its sole living representative being an old fish-woman, -Dolly Pentrath, who was still able to curse and scold in her expressive -vernacular. See Adelung, II. 152.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_424" href="#FNanchor_424" class="label">[424]</a> It was in great part from these papers that Cav. Minarelli compiled -the list of the several languages cultivated at various times -by Cardinal Mezzofanti, to which I shall have occasion to refer soon -after.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_425" href="#FNanchor_425" class="label">[425]</a> There is another circumstance of Dr. Tholuck’s narrative which -it is not easy to reconcile with the account already cited (p. 239,) -from M. Molbech’s Travels;—namely, that “when addressed in Danish -he replied in Swedish,” since the former was the only language in -which, during an interview of about two hours, Mezzofanti conversed -with M. Molbech. In order to remove all uncertainty as to this -point, I have had inquiry of M. Molbech in person, through the kind -offices of the Rev. Dr. Grüder, a learned German Missionary resident -at Copenhagen, who himself knew Cardinal Mezzofanti, and whose -testimony to the purity and fluency of his Eminence’s German conversation -I may add to the many already known. M. Molbech reiterates -and confirms all the statements made by him in his ‘Travels.’ -He has even taken the trouble to forward a note in his own hand-writing, -referring to the page in the Transactions of the Philological -Society, which contains M. Watts’s translation from his book. He -adds, that when in 1847, his son waited upon the Cardinal in Rome, -for the purpose of presenting him some of M. Molbech’s works, he -found his Eminence’s recollection of the interview perfectly fresh and -accurate as to all its details.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_426" href="#FNanchor_426" class="label">[426]</a> The reader will scarcely agree with this observation of Dr. Tholuck. -The Quichua was one of the languages which, as the Dr. testifies, -Mezzofanti only professed to know <i>imperfectly</i>. It must be -remembered too, that, during his early years he had many and prolonged -opportunities of intercourse with Father Escobar and other -South American Jesuit missionaries, who had settled at Bologna, -and from whom he may have acquired the language, much more -solidly than he could be supposed to learn it from a few casual interviews -such as Dr. Tholuck most probably contemplated.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_427" href="#FNanchor_427" class="label">[427]</a> The Gulistan is found in the Cardinal’s catalogue, p. 109.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_428" href="#FNanchor_428" class="label">[428]</a> p. 26. Oddly enough they are classed among the <i>Bohemian</i> books.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_429" href="#FNanchor_429" class="label">[429]</a> <i>Friesche Rymlerije.</i> It is mentioned by Adelung, II. p. 237.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_430" href="#FNanchor_430" class="label">[430]</a> Vol. xvi., p. 229-30.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_431" href="#FNanchor_431" class="label">[431]</a> See a very curious chapter in Tiraboschi, vol. vii., p. 139-201; -which Disraeli has, as usual, turned freely to his own account in the -Curiosities of Literature, p. 348-54.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_432" href="#FNanchor_432" class="label">[432]</a> This is the origin of the nom-de-guerre, La Lasca—(<i>the Roach</i>,) -by which the too notorious novelist, Grazzini, chose to designate -himself as member of this society.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_433" href="#FNanchor_433" class="label">[433]</a> All’ Em̅o Signor Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, Applausi dei -Filopieri, 8vo. Bologna, 1838.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_434" href="#FNanchor_434" class="label">[434]</a> Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration; from the Sanscrit -of Brahmegupta and Bhascara. Translated by H. T. Colebroke, -London, 1817. The <i>Bija Gannita</i> had already been published by Mr. -Strachey in 1813. In referring to these Hindoo treatises on Mathematics, -I may add, that an interesting account of the Hindoo Logic, -contributed by Professor Max Müller, is appended to Mr. Thompson’s -“Outline of the Laws of Thought,” (pp. 369-89,) London, -1853. The analogies of all these treatises with the works of the -Western writers on the same sciences, are exceedingly curious and -interesting.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_435" href="#FNanchor_435" class="label">[435]</a> Some curious and interesting remarks on the peculiarity of the -Indian languages here mentioned by M. Libri, will be found in Du -Ponceau’s “Memoire sur le Systeme Grammaticale des Langues Indiennes,” -pp. 143, and foll. Some words in the Chippewa language -contain <i>thirteen</i> or <i>fourteen</i> syllables; but they should be called -phrases rather than words. M. Du Ponceau gives an example -from the language of the Indians of Massachusetts—the word -<i>wutappesittukquissunnuhwehtunkquoh</i>, “<i>genuflecting</i>!” p. 143. The -same characteristic is found in the Mexican and Central American -languages. In Mexican “a parish-priest” is “<i>notlazomanitzteopitzkatatzins</i>!”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_436" href="#FNanchor_436" class="label">[436]</a> While M. Libri was writing this letter, he learned that Count -Pepoli was in possession of a short autobiographical sketch of Mezzofanti. -The count subsequently was good enough to permit me to inspect -this fragment; but I was mortified to find that it was not by -the Cardinal himself, but by some member of his family. It is very -short, and contains no fact which I had not previously known.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_437" href="#FNanchor_437" class="label">[437]</a> See the series of the <i>Gazzetta di Bologna</i>; see also Spalding’s -“Italy and the Italian Islands,” for a compendious but accurate -summary of the facts.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_438" href="#FNanchor_438" class="label">[438]</a> See the official announcements in the <i>Diario di Roma</i> in March -and April.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_439" href="#FNanchor_439" class="label">[439]</a> <i>Diario di Roma</i>, May 9, 1831.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_440" href="#FNanchor_440" class="label">[440]</a> Mijne Reis naar Rome in het voorjaar van 1837. II. p. 35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_441" href="#FNanchor_441" class="label">[441]</a> The Memoirs of Father Ripa have enjoyed great popularity in -the abridged form in which they are published in Murray’s Home -and Colonial Library. This abridgment, however, gives but little -idea of the work itself.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_442" href="#FNanchor_442" class="label">[442]</a> This Bull is in the <i>Bullarium</i> of the Propaganda.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_443" href="#FNanchor_443" class="label">[443]</a> Epistola Innocent III. vol. II. 723.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_444" href="#FNanchor_444" class="label">[444]</a> According to my informant at Naples, the affection under which -Mezzofanti laboured is described by the local phrase “<i>rompergli le -chiancarelle</i>,”—a Neapolitan idiom which expresses something like -our own phrase that “his brains were addled.” It was ascribed to -the excessive difficulty of the Chinese, and to his own immoderate -application. My informant also states that, at his worst moments, -his mind was recalled at once from its wandering by the mere mention -of the name of the Holy Father, to whom he was most tenderly -attached.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_445" href="#FNanchor_445" class="label">[445]</a> Fleck’s Wissenschaftliche Reise, I. p. 94.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_446" href="#FNanchor_446" class="label">[446]</a> After the Revolution of 1848-9 the Chinese students for a time -ceased to be sent to the Propaganda. Their entire course was completed -in the Neapolitan College. They have again resumed their -attendance.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_447" href="#FNanchor_447" class="label">[447]</a> Letters and Journals, III. 313, 315, 334.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_448" href="#FNanchor_448" class="label">[448]</a> On the extraordinary Powers of Card. Mezzofanti, p. 122.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_449" href="#FNanchor_449" class="label">[449]</a> Annales d’un Physicien Voyageur, par F. Forster, M.D. pp. -60-1, Bruges, 1851.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_450" href="#FNanchor_450" class="label">[450]</a> Miss Mitford, in her “Recollections of a Literary Life,” (vol. II. -203) relates this anecdote differently. She has confounded together -two different periods at which Dr. Baines met Mezzofanti—the first -at Bologna when this incident occurred, the second many years later, -when Mezzofanti was Librarian of the Vatican. The anecdote, as -related above, was communicated to me by the late Rev. Dr. Cox, -of Southampton, who learned it from the bishop himself.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_451" href="#FNanchor_451" class="label">[451]</a> The relation of the English language to the ancient British tongue -is discussed by Latham, “The English Language,” vol. I. p. 344-5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_452" href="#FNanchor_452" class="label">[452]</a> Des Caractères Physiologiques des Races Humaines considérés -dans leur Rapports avec l’Histoire. Par. W. F. Edwards, p. 102.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_453" href="#FNanchor_453" class="label">[453]</a> It can scarcely be necessary to allude to Mgr. Malou’s admirable -book On the Reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue. His interesting -essay On the Authorship of the Imitation of Christ, is less -known.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_454" href="#FNanchor_454" class="label">[454]</a> For this and the following notices I am indebted to the kind -offices of my friend Canon Donnet of Brussels.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_455" href="#FNanchor_455" class="label">[455]</a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“God calls, and points out the path of perfection,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hearken my friend, to His voice—the voice of Truth.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_456" href="#FNanchor_456" class="label">[456]</a> Mijne Reis naar Rom in het Voorjahr van 1837. Door Dr. -Jan J. F. Wap., 2 vols., 8vo., Breda, 1839.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_457" href="#FNanchor_457" class="label">[457]</a> In the year 1837. This is a slight mistake: he was only sixty-three.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_458" href="#FNanchor_458" class="label">[458]</a> These books are found upon the Catalogue, p. 105.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_459" href="#FNanchor_459" class="label">[459]</a> Afterwards Professor in the Catholic Seminary of Warmond, in -Holland, and at present Curé at Soest, in the province of Utrecht.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_460" href="#FNanchor_460" class="label">[460]</a> “Let him who dares to doubt the gift of Pentecost, stand ashamed -and confounded before the mind of Mezzofanti. In him, let him -honour that man who is fit to be the earth’s interpreter—whose intellect -penetrates the language-secret of all nations.</p> - -<p>“Accept, son of the South, the respectful salutation of the North. -But think, while your eye beholds my poor address, that if the -Batavians’ language lacks Italian melody, their tongue and soul are -both averse to flattery.”</p> - -<p>Mezzofanti’s reply:—</p> - -<p>“Sir, when first the day my eyes were cast upon your beautiful -address, I was quite enraptured by your great kindness. It so raised -up my mind and heart, that, although master of fifty languages, my -tongue remained speechless—But lest I should seem an ingrate, I beg -you just to read my heart.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_461" href="#FNanchor_461" class="label">[461]</a> This is not quite correctly cited—The passage is in the sixth of -the Elegies, “aus Rom,” [vol. I. p. 48. Paris, 1836.]</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">————So hab’ ich von Herzen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rothstrumpf immer gehasst und violet-strumpf dazu.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It certainly deserves all the ridicule which Mezzofanti heaps on it, -and might well make</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">————the Muses, on their racks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scream like the winding of ten thousand jacks.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The allusion to ‘red stocking’ and ‘violet stocking,’ is one of -Goethe’s habitual sneers at the Catholic prelacy.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_462" href="#FNanchor_462" class="label">[462]</a> The idea which Mezzofanti throws out here as to the seeming -national unconsciousness of the metrical capabilities of the Magyar -language is very curiously developed by Mr. Watts, in a paper -recently read before the Philological Society. Transactions of -Phil. Society, 1855, pp. 285-310.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_463" href="#FNanchor_463" class="label">[463]</a> Steger’s Ergänzungs-Conversations-Lexicon. Vol. IX., pp. 395-7. -The work which is intended as a supplement to the existing Encyclopædias, -is a repertory of interesting and novel information.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_464" href="#FNanchor_464" class="label">[464]</a> The only Maltese books in the Mezzofanti catalogue are the -New Testament; Panzavecchia’s Grammatica della Lingua Maltese, -Malta, 1845, and Vassalli’s Lexicon.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_465" href="#FNanchor_465" class="label">[465]</a> Letter dated February 18, 1857.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_466" href="#FNanchor_466" class="label">[466]</a> Letter dated February 20, 1857.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_467" href="#FNanchor_467" class="label">[467]</a> See Biographie Universelle, art. <i>Vella</i>. Also Adelung’s Mithridates, -I. 416.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_468" href="#FNanchor_468" class="label">[468]</a> Di Marco Polo, e degli altri Viaggiatori Veneziani, 2 vols., -4to, Venice, 1818.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_469" href="#FNanchor_469" class="label">[469]</a> Signor Drach is the author of an erudite Essay, “Du Divorce -dans la Synagogue,” and of several interesting dissertations on the -Talmud.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_470" href="#FNanchor_470" class="label">[470]</a> One of the victims in 1840, of the tyrannical church policy of the -late Czar in Poland and Polish Russia—He was exiled to Siberia.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_471" href="#FNanchor_471" class="label">[471]</a> I have used the translation published in Mr. Watts’s paper, restoring, -however, a few sentences which were there omitted.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_472" href="#FNanchor_472" class="label">[472]</a> Fleck’s Wissenschaftliche Reise, I. pp. 93-5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_473" href="#FNanchor_473" class="label">[473]</a> Miss Mitford’s Recollections of a Literary Life, II. p. 203.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_474" href="#FNanchor_474" class="label">[474]</a> See Supra, pp. 143-4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_475" href="#FNanchor_475" class="label">[475]</a> The Catalogue (p. 33,) contains the complete edition, 5 vols., -8vο., Stockholm, 1826; also the works of Kellgren, Leopold, and -others. It also comprises the Frithiofs-Saga, and other early -Scandinavian remains.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_476" href="#FNanchor_476" class="label">[476]</a> Letter of M. D’Abbadie, May 6, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_477" href="#FNanchor_477" class="label">[477]</a> The Abate Matranga is often mentioned with high praise by -Cardinal Mai in his prefaces. He is favourably known to Greek -scholars besides by his <i>Anecdota Græca</i>, 2 vols. 8vo., Rome, 1850, -consisting of the <i>Allegoriæ Homericæ</i> of Tzetzes, and many other -remains of ancient scholiast commentators upon Homer, and of -some unpublished Anacreontic poems of the Byzantine period.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_478" href="#FNanchor_478" class="label">[478]</a> Moore (Diary, III. p. 183,) mentions him as “the Abate Meli, -a Sicilian poet, of whom he had never heard before.” He is, nevertheless, -a voluminous writer of pastorals, sonnets, ballads, and odes, -sacred and profane. His largest poem, however, is an epic of twelve -cantos on the History of Don Quixote, in <i>ottava rima</i>. After a little -trouble it may be read without much difficulty by any one acquainted -with the ordinary Italian, and is highly amusing. Meli’s works are -collected into one vol. royal 8vo., Palermo, 1846.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_479" href="#FNanchor_479" class="label">[479]</a> See account in <i>Civiltà Cattolica</i> (by F. Bresciani) vii., p. 569.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_480" href="#FNanchor_480" class="label">[480]</a> See Adelung’s <i>Mithridates</i>, vol. iii, part iii, p. 186.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_481" href="#FNanchor_481" class="label">[481]</a> Ibid, p. 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_482" href="#FNanchor_482" class="label">[482]</a> Since the above was written, a case somewhat similar has -been mentioned to me by the Rev Dr. Murray of Dublin, also a -student of the Propaganda. A young Mulatto of the Dutch West -Indian Island of Curaçoa, named Enrico Gomez, arrived about a -fortnight before Epiphany, 1845. He spoke no language except -the “Nigger Dutch,” of his native island. Mezzofanti took him -into his hands, and before the day of Academy (the Sunday after -Epiphany) he had not only established a mode of communication -with him, but had learned his language, and even composed for him -a short poetical piece, which Gomez recited at the Academy! A -third case, of three Albanian youths, is mentioned in the Civiltà -Cattolica, VII. p. 571.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_483" href="#FNanchor_483" class="label">[483]</a> These youths are mentioned in “Shea’s Catholic Missions -among the Indian Tribes” (p. 387,) a work of exceeding interest -and most carefully executed.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_484" href="#FNanchor_484" class="label">[484]</a> Sketches in Canada, pp. 214-15.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_485" href="#FNanchor_485" class="label">[485]</a> See his Memoire sur le Systeme Grammaticale, p. 97, also p. -306, and in the appendix <i>passim</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_486" href="#FNanchor_486" class="label">[486]</a> See Du Ponceau, Memoire, p. 294-5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_487" href="#FNanchor_487" class="label">[487]</a> Not only are the inflexions entirely different from those of -the languages to which we are accustomed, but the very use of inflexions -is altogether peculiar. For example, in the Chippewa language -there is an inflexion of nouns, similar to our conjugation of -verbs, by which all the states of the noun are expressed. Thus the -word <i>man</i> can be inflected for person, to signify, ‘<i>I am</i> a man,’ ‘<i>thou -art</i> a man,’ ‘<i>he is</i> a man;’ &c. So also the inflexions of the verb -transitive vary according to the gender of the object—See Mrs. -Jameson, p. 196. Schoolcraft ascribes the same character to the entire -Algonquin family—See Du Ponceau, pp. 130-5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_488" href="#FNanchor_488" class="label">[488]</a> Letter of M. d’Abbadie, dated May 4, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_489" href="#FNanchor_489" class="label">[489]</a> Letter of May 23rd, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_490" href="#FNanchor_490" class="label">[490]</a> The Signor Churi mentioned by M. Fernando is the author -of a curious and interesting volume of travels—“The Sea Nile, -the Desert and Nigritia,” published in 1853. Being obliged by ill -health to leave the Propaganda, and unwilling for many reasons to -return to his native Lebanon, he settled in London as a teacher of -oriental languages. One of his pupils in Arabic, Captain Peel, engaged -him in 1850, as his interpreter in a tour of Egypt, Syria, and -the Holy Land, and afterwards, in 1851, in an expedition to the -interior of Africa, which forms the subject of Signor Churi’s volume.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_491" href="#FNanchor_491" class="label">[491]</a> I have been assured by M. Bauer, a student of the Propaganda -in 1855, that he often conversed with the Cardinal in Hungarian, -during the years 1847 and 1848.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_492" href="#FNanchor_492" class="label">[492]</a> A comparative Grammar of the Dravidian, or South-Indian -Family of Languages. By the Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A., London, -1856.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_493" href="#FNanchor_493" class="label">[493]</a> In a letter dated Calcutta, September 20, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_494" href="#FNanchor_494" class="label">[494]</a> Letter dated Calcutta, September 22, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_495" href="#FNanchor_495" class="label">[495]</a> See a most amusing account by Père Bourgeois, in the -Lettres Edifiantes, of his first Chinese Sermon, which D’Israeli has -translated. An interesting exposition of the difficulties of the -Chinese language is found in Grüber’s Relazione di Cina, Florence, -1697.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_496" href="#FNanchor_496" class="label">[496]</a> Dated Rome, May 23, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_497" href="#FNanchor_497" class="label">[497]</a> What Europeans call the Mandarin language is by the -Chinese designated Houan-Hoa, or universal language. It is spoken -by instructed persons throughout the Empire, although with a -marked difference of pronunciation in the northern and the southern -provinces. Besides this, there are dialects peculiar to the provinces -of Kouang-tong, and Fo-kien, as well as several minor dialects. See -Huc’s Chinese Empire, I. p. 319-20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_498" href="#FNanchor_498" class="label">[498]</a> See Adelung, Mithridates, III. part I. pp. 207-24.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_499" href="#FNanchor_499" class="label">[499]</a> Letter of February 7, 1857. I had submitted these pieces to Dr. -Livingston; but as he, having been ill all the time he remained in -Angola, had never learned that language, he was good enough to -send the papers to Mr. Brande. The latter, besides kindly communicating -to me his own opinion regarding them, has taken the trouble -to forward them to a friend at Loando, to be submitted to an intelligent -native in whose judgment Mr. Brande has full confidence; but -as yet (March 15, 1858,) no reply has reached me.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_500" href="#FNanchor_500" class="label">[500]</a> See an excellent article in Morone’s “Dizionario di Erudizione -Storico-ecclesiastica,” as also the Kirchen-Lexicon, vol. II. 344 and -foll.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_501" href="#FNanchor_501" class="label">[501]</a> A friend of mine who chanced to pass as one of these carriages -(which had been dismantled preparatory to its being newly fitted up,) -was on its way to the Pontifical Factory for the purpose, overheard -some idle boys who were looking on, laughing at its heavy, lumbering -look, and saying to each other: “<i>Che barcaccia!</i>” (What a shocking old -boat!). He was greatly amused at the indignation with which the -coachman resented this impertinent criticism.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_502" href="#FNanchor_502" class="label">[502]</a> A sample of Mezzofanti’s own performance as a Filopiero—his -reply to the verses of his friend, Count Marchesi—is given by Marchetti, -in his <i>Pagine Monumentali</i>, p. 150.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">De tuoi versi il contento,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cosi nell’ alma io sento,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Che versi rendo gratulando teco,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ma oime’! ch’ io son qual eco,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Che molti suoni asconde,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E languida da lungi al fin responde.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_503" href="#FNanchor_503" class="label">[503]</a> The title is “All’ Ementissimo Signor Cardinale Giuseppe -Mezzofanti, Bolognese, elevato all’ Onore della Porpora Romana, -Applausi dei Filopieri, 8vo., Bologna, 1838.” A similar tribute -from the pen of Doctor Veggetti, who had succeeded Mezzofanti as -Librarian, appeared a short time before, entitled “Tributo di -Lode a Giuseppe Mezzofanti, Bolognese, creato Cardinale il Giorno -12 Febbraro, 1838.” Bologna, 1838.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_504" href="#FNanchor_504" class="label">[504]</a> Stolz, Biografia, p. 7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_505" href="#FNanchor_505" class="label">[505]</a> A bon-mot on occasion of Monsignor Mezzofanti’s elevation, -which I heard from Cardinal Wiseman, and which is ascribed -to the good old Cardinal Rivarola, is worth recording, although -the point is not fully appreciable, except in Italian.</p> - -<p>Mezzofanti, from his childhood, had worn ear-rings, as a preventive, -according to the popular notion, against an affection of the -eyes, to which he had been subject. Some one observed that it was -strange to see a “Cardinal wearing ear-rings,” (<i>chi porta orecchini</i>.)</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” rejoined Cardinal Rivarola, “Ci han da essere tanti -uomini in dignità che portano <i>orecchine</i> (”long ears“—”asses ears,“) -e perchè non ci ha da essere uno almeno chi porti <i>orecchini</i>? (ear-rings.) -There are many dignitaries who have <i>orecchine</i>, (asses-ears), -and why should not there be at least one with <i>orecchini</i>—ear-rings?”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_506" href="#FNanchor_506" class="label">[506]</a> Perhaps it is not generally known that the brothers Antoine and -Arnauld d’Abbadie, although French by name, fortune, and education, -are not only children of an Irish mother, but were born, and -spent the first years of childhood, in Dublin. M. Antoine d’Abbadie -lived in Dublin till his eighth year. See his letter to the Athenæum, -(Cairo, Nov. 15, 1848,) vol. for 1849, p. 93.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_507" href="#FNanchor_507" class="label">[507]</a> The <i>Journal Asiatique</i>, passim; the Athenæum, 1839, 1845, 1849: -the Geographical Society of France, and of England, &c.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_508" href="#FNanchor_508" class="label">[508]</a> M. d’Abbadie collected with great care, as opportunity offered, -vocabularies, more or less extensive, of a vast number of the languages -of this region of Africa. His collections, also, on the -natural history and geography, as well as on the religious and -social condition of the country, are most extensive and valuable. -The work in which he is understood to be engaged upon the subject, -is looked for with much interest.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_509" href="#FNanchor_509" class="label">[509]</a> When M. d’Abbadie, in one of his letters to the Athenæum, -first alluded to the Ilmorma, its existence, as a distinct language, -was absolutely denied.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_510" href="#FNanchor_510" class="label">[510]</a> One of the writers on the Basque Grammar, Manuel de Larramendi, -entitles his book, Impossible vencido, (“The Impossible Overcome,”) -8vo. Salamanca, 1729. Some idea, though a faint one, of the difficulty -of this Grammar, may be formed from the number and names -of the words of a Basque verb. They are no less than eleven; and -are denominated by grammarians, the Indicative, the Consuetudinal, -the Potential, the Voluntary, the Necessary (coactive,) the Imperative, -Subjunctive, Optative, <i>Penitudinary</i> (!) and Infinitive.—The variety -of tenses in Basque also, is very great. But it should be added that -the structure of these moods and tenses is described as singularly -philosophical, and full of harmony and of analogy.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_511" href="#FNanchor_511" class="label">[511]</a> Letter of M. d’Abbadie, May 6, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_512" href="#FNanchor_512" class="label">[512]</a> Manavit, p. 109.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_513" href="#FNanchor_513" class="label">[513]</a> Olaszhoni es Schweizi Vtazas Irta Paget Janosné Wesselenyi -Polyxena, 1842, vol. I., p. 180. Mr. Watts’s Memoir, p. 121.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_514" href="#FNanchor_514" class="label">[514]</a> This book is in the Library Catalogue, p. 138.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_515" href="#FNanchor_515" class="label">[515]</a> Letter of June 6, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_516" href="#FNanchor_516" class="label">[516]</a> Volume X. (1842.) p. 227—279-80.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_517" href="#FNanchor_517" class="label">[517]</a> Christmas Holidays at Rome. By the Rev. Ingraham Kip, edited -by the Rev. W. Sewell, p. 175.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_518" href="#FNanchor_518" class="label">[518]</a> Letter of October 11, 1857.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_519" href="#FNanchor_519" class="label">[519]</a> Letter of Feb. 23, 1847.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_520" href="#FNanchor_520" class="label">[520]</a> Italy I. 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_521" href="#FNanchor_521" class="label">[521]</a> I think it was the late Rev. John Smyth, a clergyman of Dublin, -who, while I myself was in Rome, conversed with Cardinal -Mezzofanti under the impression that he was speaking with the -English Cardinal Acton.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_522" href="#FNanchor_522" class="label">[522]</a> In 3 vols., 12mo., London, 1757. It contains the original and the -translation in parallel pages. The author was Sieur Townley the well-known -collector, and a member of the distinguished catholic family of -that name. The translation is certainly most curiously exact in letter -and in spirit, and fully deserves all that Mr. Badeley has said of it.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_523" href="#FNanchor_523" class="label">[523]</a> The exhibition at present, and for some years back, is held in the -church of the Propaganda.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_524" href="#FNanchor_524" class="label">[524]</a> Of the princely house of Massimo, which is said to claim descent -from the great <i>Cunctator</i>. The marked contrast between the diminutive -stature of the Cardinal, and the noble and commanding figure -of the Prince, his elder brother, gave occasion to one of those lively -<i>mots</i> for which Rome is celebrated. The brothers were called, -“Il Principe <i>Massimo</i>, ed il Cardinal <i>Menomo</i>.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_525" href="#FNanchor_525" class="label">[525]</a> These were (1,) Hebrew; (2,) Syriac; (3,) Samaritan; (4,) -ancient Chaldee; (5,) Modern Chaldee; (6,) Arabic; (7,) ancient -Armenian; (8,) modern Armenian; (9,) Turkish; (10,) Persian; -(11,) Albanian; (12,) Sabean;—a dialect of Syriac, which Adelung -prefers to call Zabian;—(13,) Maltese; (14,) Greek; (15,) Romaic; -(16,) Ethiopic; (17,) Coptic; (18,) Amariña; (19,) Tamul; -(20,) Koordish; (21,) Kunkan,—one of the dialects of the Bengal -coast;—(22,) Georgian; (23,) Welsh; (24,) Irish; (25,) Gælic; -(26,) English; (27,) Illyrian; (28,) Bulgarian; (29,) Polish; (30,) -Peguan; (31,) Swedish; (32,) ancient German; (33,) modern German; -(34,) Swiss German; (35,) Dutch; (36,) Spanish; (37,) -Catalan; (38,) Portuguese; (39,) French; (40,) ancient Chinese; -(41,) Chinese of Tchang-si; (42,) Chinese of Canton.</p> - -<p>I was somewhat surprised to miss Russian from the catalogue. In -the Academy of the present year, it appears in its proper place. See -“Academia Poliglotta nel Collegio Urbano de Prop. Fide, per l’Epifania -del 1858,” p. 38.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_526" href="#FNanchor_526" class="label">[526]</a> This youth, as I afterwards learned, was called by the strange -name, Moses Ngnau. He was a native of Pegu, and returned to -his own mission in 1850; but unhappily his career was terminated -by an early death.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_527" href="#FNanchor_527" class="label">[527]</a> The journals of this week, (March 18,) relate a most astonishing -feat of the great modern chess-player, Dr. Harwitz. He has just -played three games simultaneously, against three most eminent players, -without once seeing any of the boards, or even entering the -room in which the moves were made, during the entire time! He -won two of the games—the third being a drawn one.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_528" href="#FNanchor_528" class="label">[528]</a> The most recent information regarding this curious subject is -contained in a report by Dr. Aufrecht, which Bunsen has printed -in his Christianity and Mankind, III., p. 87, and foll; See also -Mommsen’s Unter-italische Dialekten.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_529" href="#FNanchor_529" class="label">[529]</a> Letter of January 15, 1857.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_530" href="#FNanchor_530" class="label">[530]</a> Cardinal Wiseman told me of a priest who, after having lived for -twenty years in France, was mortified to find himself discovered as -an Englishman, by the way in which he said “ah!” in expression -of his acknowledgment of an answer given to him by a person to whom -he addressed a question in a crowd. This may explain an anecdote -in Moore’s Diary, which he could not himself understand. A lady -was coming in to dinner, and, on her passing through the ante-room, -where Talleyrand was standing, he looked up and exclaimed insignificantly -“ah!” In the course of the dinner, the lady, having asked him -across the table why he had uttered the exclamation of “oh”! on her -entrance, Talleyrand, with a grave self-vindicatory look, answered; -<i>Madame, je n’ai pas dit</i> oh! <i>j’ai dit</i> ah, (<i>Memoirs VII., p. 5</i>).</p> - -<p>One of the standing jokes against the capuchins in Italy is about -an “alphabet” which they are supposed to learn during the noviciate, -and which consists exclusively of the interjection <i>O!</i>—which single -sound, by the varieties of look, gesture, air, and expression which accompany -it, is made to embody almost every conceivable meaning.</p> - -<p>Much light is thrown on more than one obscure passage in the Latin -classics by the gesticulations which still prevail in modern Italy, -especially in Naples. See the Canon De Jorio’s extremely curious and -learned book, “Mimica degli Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napolitano.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_531" href="#FNanchor_531" class="label">[531]</a> Supra, p. 379.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_532" href="#FNanchor_532" class="label">[532]</a> The pun is less observable in writing than in speaking; the -words <i>weiss-haar</i> and <i>weiser</i> resemble each other more closely in -sound, than in appearance. It might be rendered:</p> - -<p>“Would to God, that, as I have become <i>whiter</i>, so I had also -grown <i>wiser</i>!”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_533" href="#FNanchor_533" class="label">[533]</a> This is a mistake. The work published at Philadelphia is not a -general treatise on the Indian Languages, but a Grammar of the -Lenni-Lennape Language nor is it an original work of Du Ponceau: -but a translation by him, with notes, from the German MS. of -David Zeisberger. It is in 4to. and was published at Philadelphia -in 1827. Du Ponceau’s own work on the Indian languages, was published -in Paris, 8vo. 1838.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_534" href="#FNanchor_534" class="label">[534]</a> Christmas holidays in Rome, by the Rev. Ingraham Kip.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_535" href="#FNanchor_535" class="label">[535]</a> Gaume, Les Trois Rome, II. 413-4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_536" href="#FNanchor_536" class="label">[536]</a> Letter of November 9, 1855.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_537" href="#FNanchor_537" class="label">[537]</a> Letter of July 14, 1856.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_538" href="#FNanchor_538" class="label">[538]</a> Remskiya Pisma—(by M. Mouravieff.) vol. I., p. 144.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_539" href="#FNanchor_539" class="label">[539]</a> See the <i>Allgemeine Zeitung</i>, for 1846. No. 4, p. 27. See also -the Kirchen-Lexicon. B. IV., p. 729. This interview forms the -subject of one of the most brilliant sketches in Cardinal Wiseman’s -“Recollections of the Last Four Popes,” pp. 409, and foll.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_540" href="#FNanchor_540" class="label">[540]</a> Manavit, p. 113.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_541" href="#FNanchor_541" class="label">[541]</a> Translated by Mr. Watts.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The fire that burns within that breast of thine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mother of God! O kindle it in mine.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><i>Trans. of Philological Society, 1854, p. 148.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_542" href="#FNanchor_542" class="label">[542]</a> See an article in “Household Words,” May 13, 1854 (No. 216). -See also Rohrbacher’s Histoire de l’Eglise, T. XXVIII. pp. 431-42.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_543" href="#FNanchor_543" class="label">[543]</a> Manavit, p. 95.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_544" href="#FNanchor_544" class="label">[544]</a> Quoted by Manavit, p. 98.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_545" href="#FNanchor_545" class="label">[545]</a> Another impromptu epigram composed by the Cardinal, while -the memorable procession of the 8th of September following, was -returning from the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, amid the -universal jubilation of Rome, and of representatives of all the Papal -provinces, has been communicated to me.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Te Patre, Teque Pio, junguntur Principe corda:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ecce Tibi unum cor, Felsina, Roma, sumus!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_546" href="#FNanchor_546" class="label">[546]</a> Civiltà Cattolica VII, p. 877. This brilliant account of the -Cardinal is given in the “Appendix” of Father Bresciani’s <i>Ebreo di -Verona</i>, and is full of most curious and interesting details.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_547" href="#FNanchor_547" class="label">[547]</a> Civiltà Cattolica, VII. p. 577.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_548" href="#FNanchor_548" class="label">[548]</a> His <i>zucchetto</i>, the red skull-cap worn by Cardinals, is preserved -in the collection at Abbotsford.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_549" href="#FNanchor_549" class="label">[549]</a> Civiltà Cattolica, VII. 596.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_550" href="#FNanchor_550" class="label">[550]</a> <i>Civiltà Cattolica</i>, VII., p. 578.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_551" href="#FNanchor_551" class="label">[551]</a> I do not know what language is here meant. Perhaps it is a -mistake for <i>Bavara</i>—the Bavarian dialect of German: or possibly it -may mean the Dutch of the <i>Boors</i> at the Cape of Good Hope.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_552" href="#FNanchor_552" class="label">[552]</a> Possibly <i>Berberica</i>—the Barbary dialect of Arabic.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_553" href="#FNanchor_553" class="label">[553]</a> This is probably meant for <i>Concanico</i>—an Indian language which -often appeared in the programme of the Propaganda Academy, while -Mezzofanti was in Rome. It is the dialect of Kunka, in the province -of Orissa.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_554" href="#FNanchor_554" class="label">[554]</a> This is certainly meant for <i>Tepehuana</i>, one of the Central American -point of languages.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_555" href="#FNanchor_555" class="label">[555]</a> Probably by these names are meant the two <i>spoken</i> dialects of the -orthodox Christians of modern Egypt. The Coptic (No. 23.) is the -<i>learned</i> language of the Liturgy.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_556" href="#FNanchor_556" class="label">[556]</a> This item, as well as Nos. 47 and 53, may be ascribed to the -writer’s desire to swell the total of his uncle’s languages—I need -hardly say that they have no practical bearing on the question.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_557" href="#FNanchor_557" class="label">[557]</a> I am unable to conjecture the meaning of this name.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_558" href="#FNanchor_558" class="label">[558]</a> This is either a repetition of No. 56., or it designates the whole -class of languages called Iberian, and not an individual language.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_559" href="#FNanchor_559" class="label">[559]</a> Perhaps Misteco—the Mistek; one of the Mexican group of languages. -Many interesting particulars regarding them will be found -in Squier’s Nicaragua.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_560" href="#FNanchor_560" class="label">[560]</a> This probably means the old Celtic of Brittany. No. 50 is the -modern patois of the province.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_561" href="#FNanchor_561" class="label">[561]</a> If this be meant for Gælic, as seems likely, No. 73 can only -be the Lowland Scotch.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_562" href="#FNanchor_562" class="label">[562]</a> I need hardly observe on the vagueness of this name. Mezzofanti -learned from more than one missionary something of the languages -of Oceanica; but how much I have no means of determining.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_563" href="#FNanchor_563" class="label">[563]</a> For Pampanga, one of the languages of the Philippine Islands—an -offshoot of the Malay family.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_564" href="#FNanchor_564" class="label">[564]</a> The old language of Peru. It is fast recovering the ground -from which it had been driven by the Spanish. See Markham’s -“Cuzco and Lima.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_565" href="#FNanchor_565" class="label">[565]</a> I cannot guess what is meant by this name.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_566" href="#FNanchor_566" class="label">[566]</a> A language of the New Hebrides. See Adelung, I. p. 626.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_567" href="#FNanchor_567" class="label">[567]</a> There can be no doubt that much light on this point may be -derived from a thorough examination of these books and manuscripts; -and I trust that some of the Cardinal’s friends at Rome, (where his -library is now deposited, having been purchased for the Vatican,) will -undertake the task. I have endeavoured in some degree to supply -the want by a careful examination of the catalogue published in -Rome in 1851, and often cited in this volume. But it is so full of -the grossest and most ludicrous inaccuracies, so utterly unscientific, -and so constantly confounds one language with another, that it can -only be used with the utmost caution, and at best affords but little -assistance for the purposes of the Memoir.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_568" href="#FNanchor_568" class="label">[568]</a> I should observe that I do not think it necessary to adopt the -nomenclature of languages recently introduced. I will for the most -part follow that of Adelung.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_569" href="#FNanchor_569" class="label">[569]</a> I shall refer for the several languages, to the pages which contain -the notices of the Cardinal’s proficiency in each. There are two or -three cases in which the proof may not appear quite decisive: but I -have much understated, even in these, the common opinion of his -friends.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_570" href="#FNanchor_570" class="label">[570]</a> In this and the few other instances in which I have referred to -Cavaliere Minarelli’s list of the Cardinal’s languages, it is amply supported -by the printed catalogue of his library, which contains several -works in each language, evidently provided with a view to the study of -it.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_571" href="#FNanchor_571" class="label">[571]</a> I once travelled through the entire length of France with a -friend, who was an excellent book-scholar in the French language, -but who, from the feeling which I describe, never could prevail on -himself to attempt to speak French in my presence. During a journey -of several days, I only heard him utter one solitary <i>oui</i>; and -even this was at a time when he was not aware that I was within -hearing.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_572" href="#FNanchor_572" class="label">[572]</a> p. 290.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_573" href="#FNanchor_573" class="label">[573]</a> p. 78.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_574" href="#FNanchor_574" class="label">[574]</a> P. 391.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_575" href="#FNanchor_575" class="label">[575]</a> P. 291</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_576" href="#FNanchor_576" class="label">[576]</a> There is little originality in this piece, the words and forms being -closely scriptural. It is without points, but he occasionally, also, -employed them in writing Hebrew.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_577" href="#FNanchor_577" class="label">[577]</a> Eumetes was the name under which, by ancient usage of the <i>Arcadi</i>, -Gregory XVI., before his elevation, had been enrolled in their Academy.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_578" href="#FNanchor_578" class="label">[578]</a> Domenichino’s Communion of St. Jerome.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_579" href="#FNanchor_579" class="label">[579]</a> Communion of St. Sebastian, also by Domenichino.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_580" href="#FNanchor_580" class="label">[580]</a> Guercino’s St. Petronilla.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_581" href="#FNanchor_581" class="label">[581]</a> Algardi’s bas-relief group of Attila and St. Leo.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_582" href="#FNanchor_582" class="label">[582]</a> As I have no knowledge of this or the Grisons language, I fear the -orthography will be found inaccurate.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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