understood, he got stared at for his affectation! We
have lately heard of some licentious revellings of these Arcadians, in
receiving a man of genius from our own country, who, himself composing
Italian _Rime_, had "conceit" enough to become a shepherd![306] Yet let
us inquire before we criticise.

Even this ridiculous society of the Arcadians became a memorable
literary institution; and Tiraboschi has shown how it successfully
arrested the bad taste which was then prevailing throughout Italy,
recalling its muses to purer sources; while the lives of many of its
shepherds have furnished an interesting volume of literary history under
the title of "The illustrious Arcadians." Crescembini, and its founders,
had formed the most elevated conceptions of the society at its origin;
but poetical vaticinators are prophets only while we read their
verses--we must not look for that dry matter of fact--the event
predicted!

Il vostro seme eterno
Occupera la terra, ed i confini
D'Arcadia oltrapassando,
Di non piu visti gloriosi germi
L'aureo fecondera lito del Gange
E de' Cimmeri l'infeconde arene.

Mr. Mathias has recently with warmth defended the original _Arcadia_;
and the assumed character of its members, which has been condemned as
betraying their affectation, he attributes to their modesty. "Before the
critics of the Arcadia (the _pastori_, as they modestly styled
themselves) with Crescembini for their conductor, and with the _Adorato
Albano_ for their patron (Clement XI.), all that was depraved in
language and in sentiment fled and disappeared."

The strange taste for giving fantastical denominations to literary
institutions grew into a custom, though, probably, no one knew how. The
founders were always persons of rank or learning, yet still accident or
caprice created the mystifying title, and invented those appropriate
emblems, which still added to the folly. The Arcadian society derived
its title from a spontaneous conceit. This assembly first held its
meetings, on summer evenings, in a meadow on the banks of the Tiber; for
the fine climate of Italy promotes such assemblies in the open air. In
the recital of an eclogue, an enthusiast, amidst all he was hearing and
all he was seeing, exclaimed, "I seem at this moment to be in the
Arcadia of ancient Greece, listening to the pure and simple strains of
its shepherds." Enthusiasm is contagious amidst susceptible Italians,
and this name, by inspirat