ll, to the introduction of so much supernatural machinery
in the form of magic and demons; for such supernaturalism is out of
keeping altogether with our vaster knowledge of the universe, and our
more solemn ideas of Him who pervades it. But it is not by an analysis
of particular parts, or a criticism of special peculiarities, that the
_Gerusalemme_ should be judged. It is by its effect as a whole, as a
highly finished work of art. A single campaign of the first
crusade--that of 1099--embraces the whole action of the poem; but the
numerous episodes form each a perfect picture, that, like a flower
floating on a stream, and illumined by a special gleam of sunlight,
does not interrupt the continuous flow of the narrative. In a state of
society characterised by much corruption, the sentiments are uniformly
pure; and in an artificial age, when Nature was regarded as only the
background of human action, the descriptions of the objects of Nature
are wonderfully accurate; and the mind of the poet towards the flowers
and trees, the woods and hills and streams, was in a childlike state,
and had all the freshness and joyousness of childhood. The student is
not to be envied who can read without emotion the enthusiastic
description of the Crusader's first sight of Jerusalem, the touching
pathos of Clorinda's death, and the sublime account of the ruins of
Carthage. It would indeed refresh many a mind, surfeited by the vast
mass of our modern literature, to go back to the green pastures and
still waters of this grand old poem.

Every visitor to Florence knows the venerable monastery of San Marco,
with its hallowed relics of Savonarola, and its beautiful frescoes of
Fra Angelico. In a large apartment of this monastery, which was
formerly the library of the monks, are now held the meetings of the
famous Della Cruscan Academy, instituted in 1582 for the purpose of
purifying the national language. At that time every town of the least
importance in Italy had its academy with some strange fantastic name,
which was an important element in the intellectual life of the people,
and exercised a critical control over the literature of the day. Up to
the year 1814 the Della Cruscans assembled in the Palazzo Riccardi,
the ancient palace of the Medici; but that stately building being
required for Government purposes, the members have since been
accommodated in San Marco, where they have sunk into obscurity, many
of the inhabitants of Florence being