even ventured to class him with Dante, a comparison which
shows, at least, in what estimation the poet could be held at
home, and how largely the patriotic sentiment entered into the
conception of poetical compositions, how necessary it was that
the singer should be a bard. His verses ranged over a large field.
They were philosophic, patriotic, amorous. There are odes, lyrics,
satires, songs; many very beautiful and feeling; all noble and
earnest. His three poems, "All' Italia," "Sopra il Monumento
di Dante," "A Angelo Mai," gave him a national reputation. They
touch the chords to which he always responded--patriotism, poetry,
learning, a national idealism bearing aloft an enormous weight
of erudition and thought.

Leopardi was born at Recanati, a small town about fifteen miles
from Ancona, in 1798. He was of noble parentage, though not
rich. His early disposition was joyous, but with the feverish joy
of a highly-strung, nervous organization. He was a great student
from boyhood; and severe application undermined a system that was
never robust, and that soon became hopelessly diseased. Illness,
accompanied with sharp pain, clipped the wings of his ambition,
obliged him to forego preferment, and deepened the hopelessness
that hung over his expectations. His hunger for love could
not be satisfied, for his physical infirmity rendered a union
undesirable, even if possible, while a craving ideality soon
transcended any visible object of affection. He had warm friends
of his own sex, one of whom, Antonio Ranieri, stayed by him
in all vicissitudes, took him to Naples, and closed his eyes,
June 14, 1837.

To this acute sensibility of frame must be added the torture
of the heart arising from a difference with his father, who,
as a Catholic, was disturbed by the skeptical tendencies of his
son, and the perpetual irritation of a conflict with the large
majority of even philosophical minds. An early death might have
been anticipated. No amount of hopefulness, of zest for life, of
thirst for opportunity, of genius for intellectual productiveness
will counteract such predisposition to decay. The death of
the body, however, has but ensured a speedier immortality of
the soul; for many a thinker has since been busy in gathering
up the fragments of his mind and keeping his memory fresh. His
immense learning has been forgotten. His archaeological knowledge,
which fascinated Niebuhr, is of small account to-day. But his
speculative and