ealousy,
revenge, hatred, and unhappy love. And yet Alfieri has treated these
subjects in a way which differs from all others, and which stamps them,
in a certain sense, as his own. With him all is sombre and melancholy;
the scene is utterly unrelieved by humor, by the flowers of poetry, or
by that deep-hearted sympathy--the pity of it all--which softens the
tragic effect of Shakespeare's plays.

Alfieri seemed to be attracted toward the most horrible phases of human
life, and the most terrible events of history and tradition. The
passions he describes are those of unnatural love, of jealousy between
father and son, of fratricidal hatred, or those in which a sense of duty
and love for liberty triumphs over the ties of filial and parental love.
In treating the story of the second Brutus, it was not enough for his
purpose to have Caesar murdered by his friend; but, availing himself of
an unproven tradition, he makes Brutus the son of Caesar, and thus a
parricide.

[Illustration: V. ALFIERI]

It is interesting to notice his vocabulary; to see how constantly
he uses such words as "atrocious," "horror," "terrible," "incest,"
"rivers," "streams," "lakes," and "seas" of blood. The exclamation,
"Oh, rage" occurs on almost every page. Death, murder, suicide, is
the outcome of every tragedy.

The actors are few,--in many plays only four,--and each represents
a certain passion. They never change, but remain true to
their characters from beginning to end. The villains are monsters
of cruelty and vice, and the innocent and virtuous are invariably
their victims, and succumb at last.

Alfieri's purpose in producing these plays was not to amuse an
idle public, but to promulgate throughout his native land--then
under Spanish domination--the great and lofty principle of liberty
which inspired his whole life. A deep, uncompromising hatred of
kings is seen in every drama, where invariably a tyrant figures as
the villain. There is a constant declamation against tyranny and
slavery. Liberty is portrayed as something dearer than life itself.
The struggle for freedom forms the subjects of five of his
plays,--'Virginia,' 'The Conspiracy of the Pazzi,' 'Timoleon,' the
'First Brutus,' and the 'Second Brutus.' One of these is dedicated to
George Washington--'Liberator dell' America.' The warmth of
feeling with which, in the 'Conspiracy of the Pazzi,' the degradation
and slavery of Florence under the Medici is depicted, betrays
clearly Alfi