hor, who has no
resources in his own mind beyond the reputation, transient or
permanent, which is to arise from his literary efforts, deserves
the fate of authors.

In the course of the following canto it was my intention, either in
the text or in the notes, to have touched upon the present state of
Italian literature, and perhaps of manners. But the text, within
the limits I proposed, I soon found hardly sufficient for the
labyrinth of external objects, and the consequent reflections; and
for the whole of the notes, excepting a few of the shortest, I am
indebted to yourself, and these were necessarily limited to the
elucidation of the text.

It is also a delicate, and no very grateful task, to dissert upon
the literature and manners of a nation so dissimilar; and requires
an attention and impartiality which would induce us--though perhaps
no inattentive observers, nor ignorant of the language or customs
of the people among whom we have recently abode--to distrust, or at
least defer our judgment, and more narrowly examine our
information. The state of literary as well as political party
appears to run, or to _have_ run, so high, that for a stranger to
steer impartially between them is next to impossible. It may be
enough then, at least for my purpose, to quote from their own
beautiful language--"Mi pare che in un paese tutto poetico, che
vanta la lingua la piu nobile ed insieme la piu dolce, tutte tutte
le vie diverse si possouo tentare, e che sinche la patria di
Alfieri e di Monti non ha perduto l'antico valore, in tutte essa
dovrebbe essere la prima." Italy has great names still: Canova,
Monti, Ugo Foscolo, Pindemonte, Visconti, Morelli, Cicognara,
Albrizzi, Mezzophanti, Mai, Mustoxidi, Aglietti, and Vacca, will
secure to the present generation an honorable place in most of the
departments of art, sciences, and belles-lettres; and in some the
very highest. Europe--the World--has but one Canova.

It has been somewhere said by Alfieri, that "La pianta uomo nasce
piu robusta in Italia che in qualunque altra terra--e che gli
stessi atroci delitti che vi si commettono ne sono una prova."
Without subscribing to the latter part of his proposition--a
dangerous doctrine, the truth of which may be disputed on better
grounds, namely, that the I