diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/69473-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/69473-0.txt | 17257 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 17257 deletions
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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - 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. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |