yet, nothing more than the passion of hoarding. Among the private collections that of the Baron d'Astuto at Noto, and that of the family of Biscari at Catanea are most worthy of notice. The publick is still expecting the work promised by Calcagni, of Naples, on the numismatography of his native country. The writings of the Chevalier Saverio Landolina, which will principally relate to the researches undertaken by him in the vicinity of Syracuse, will appear without delay. Of all the Sicilian literati, Landolina is perhaps the only one who has. properly seized the spirit of antiquity: this he has proved by his commentaries on Homer, Hesiod, Theocritus, and several other ancient authors.

The very particular care with which the Italians collect the history of their country, forms a trait in their national character and though we so rarely find among their historians traces of that philosophick spirit which guided Machiavel and Guicciardini, yet we are obliged to allow them, in this respect, a distinguished rank among the nations of Europe. Their researches, however, are replete with too minute details, and while they furnish rich materials for the future historian of Italy, they will render his task extremely laborious by this very super-abundance. Some idea of these stores may be formed from the catalogue published by the Marquis de Villabianca: Catalogo di tutti i parti litterati editi ed inediti intorno alla Storia Sicula Palermitana, 1794. The celebrated historiographer Paolo di Blasi is reproached, perhaps with justice, for having written rather a history of the Viceroys of Sicily than of the nation, in his Storia cronologica de vice-rè, luogotenenti e presidenti del regno di Sicilia; but it is not less true that he has successfully treated the most difficult period of the annals of his country. Rosario Gregorio enjoys a well-earned reputation. His Bibliotheca scriptorum, qui res in Sicilia gestas sub Aragonum imperio retulere, causes his "History of the Government of Sicily," which will speedily appear, to be expected with impatience. Another valuable work, by the same author, Rerum Arabicarum quae ad historiam Siculam spectant ampla Collectio, Arabice et Latine, 1790, folio, raised up against him in Vella an opponent, who, however, obtained but a very transient success. We shall likewise mention here with commendation, Paolo d'Avolio Saggio sovra lo stato presente della poesia in Sicilia, per servire alla Storia della litteratura nationale

del Secolo XVIII. though in many places he is not perfectly free from the reproach of partiality.

Statisticks, so generally cultivated in all the rest of Europe, is a science almost entirely neglected in this island. Emmanuel Sergio is engaged in a work on the commerce of Sicily, but his plan is too extensive, so that there is reason to apprehend that he will never be able to accomplish it.

Though the Sicilians have not addicted themselves so much to the abstruse researches of metaphysicks, they are not less philosophical than their neighbours on the continent of Italy. The literature of France and England is better known in Sicily than in all southern Italy. A single glance at the booksellers' shops in the street of Cassero at Palermo, is sufficient to convince you that foreign literature possesses a decided advantage over that of the country. The works of the most esteemed philosophers are there read in the original; but only one work of Bonnet's has yet been translated, Contemplazione della Natura con nuove note ed osservazioni dell Abb. Fr. Ferrara, and nothing of Locke's but his logick.

It is a remarkable circumstance that the journals and other periodical works which have hitherto appeared in Sicily, and many of which are justly regretted, have had but a very transient existence. Such are the Effemeridi enciclopediche; Saggio di la Storia Sicula; Giornale ecclesiastico di Sicilia; Notizie litterarie; Nuova racolta degli autori Siciliani, &c. &c. You every where discover with pleasure traces of an intimate acquaintance with foreign literature; a high commendation, which cannot be conferred on the rest of Italy. The best German works are translated into the dialect of the country.

Every Sicilian, who prentends to any education, is a poet; pastoral poetry is their favourite branch. But most of these sons of Parnassus fortunately possess the good sense not to be desirous of shining except in the circles which they frequent. They write in the idiom peculiar to themselves, and hence it very frequently happens that what is thought charming at Palermo is not understood at Syracuse. Meli is their model; this poet enjoys the highest reputation, and the new edition of his works is expected with an impatience of which it is impossible to form any idea. All its contents are already known by heart. This is of no consequence; he is the fashionable author; the whole nation, nay even his rivals have decreed him the crown. Count Caesar Gaetani, author of a poem en

titled Piscagioni, might, perhaps, have aspired to a reputation equally splendid. The tunny fishery is an amusement of which all the inhabitants of the costs of Sicily are passionately fond. This fishery is a kind of national festival which continues several days successively; but Gaetani has employed the Tuscan dialect, which is not generally known in Sicily. Besides, his verses have not the native simplicity of Melis. Zanotti, Poli, Bondi, have likewise printed collections of poems. Procapio has translated Gessner's "Death of Abel," but none of those works produced any great sensation. Dramatic poetry is neglected to such a degree, as cannot be conceived unless it be known that the dramatick art itself found in that country but a very small number of partizans. The theatres are commonly empty, and those who go to them for pastime are frequently unable to tell, on leaving them, what piece they have seen represented. The reason of this indifference, unparalleled among civilized nations, is, that the Sicilians have not yet, properly speaking, either a national theatre or national plays. The performances are Venetian pieces, in the Venetian dialect; consequently both the language and the national character, so very different from those of Venice, oppose the progress of this art in Sicily. It may be even generally asserted that the taste for the fine arts is not yet expanded among the natives of that island. Though they possess a Pietro Novelli, an Antonio Gaggino, though their churches abound in valuable pictures of more than one kind, the Sicilian is not an artist; they have not yet produced either painter or statuary whose name is worthy of being handed down to posterity. Those among them who are gifted by nature with any particular talent are obliged to flee their country to obtain the reward due to their merit, unless they choose rather to profane their art and to vegetate all their lives. Velasquez, the painter of Palermo, affords a striking demonstration of this melancholy truth: having resolved not to quit his island, his talents and his fortune have not risen above mediocrity. Mariano Rossi was more wise or more fortunate. He obtained at an early age considerable reputation by various performances at the Villa Borghese. He returned to his native land only for a time, for the purpose of painting the dome of the cathedral of Palermo. This is the greatest of his works. Though his figures are often defective in the proportions, though his colouring, which is too yellow, fatigues the eye, still the com

position and the whole denote a man of genius. Among the statuaries we shall mention but one, Marabitti, and he scarcely deserves the name.

One of the most beautiful monuments of modern architecture, the church of St. Laurence the Martyr, at Trapani, has recently been finished. Don Diego de Luca, an ecclesiastick, was the architect who superintended its erection. Italy has not, perhaps, a monument of its kind in a style more simple and more majestick.

From the London Monthly Repository.

On the effects of the industry of the literati of Germany on the literature of that country; and on the influence of the four last years of war upon it.

IF

By John Chr. Huttner, Esq. of the Foreign Office.*

F we consider the German literati in a general point of view, we discover in them an industry, a diligence, and an avidity for every thing that can be learned or read, of which it is impossible to form a conception in any other country. All who make literature a profession are, more or less, egotists, and banished from the real into the speculative world; but the literati of Germany are more so than any other. The prodigious demands made upon them by the general example of their countrymen, draw a very distinct line between them and the other classes of society. Let a foreigner visit the German universities, he will find that most of the teachers of reputation either rise at four in the morning, or continue their labours till late at night, because the greatest part of the day is occupied in lectures, of which many of them are obliged to hold six or seven, in order to subsist, because their salaries are very low. With their families they commonly converse only during meals; and if, for the sake of decorum, they are obliged to spend a few hours in social recreations, they complain that they are robbed of their time. Hence one half of the teachers in German universities die in the flower of their age, and the other half resemble living skeletons. But few,

* From the Treue Verkündiger, a German newspaper published twice a week in London.

who either possess an iron constitution, or practise the greatest temperance, preserve their health and attain an advanced age. Of this character, all the other literati of Germany more or less partake.

Their extraordinary industry has consequences of two kinds. The bad are, multiplicity of knowledge, eagerness to acquire languages, superficialness, the immoderate multiplication of books, excessive literary curiosity, and an accumulation of journals of every kind.

Among the beneficial effects may be reckoned, an ardent desire of accuracy, unexampled multitude and excellence of all literary auxiliary works, an impartial judgment respecting foreign literary merit, and a just estimation of native talents.

With regard to solicitude for multiplicity of attainments, there is at present no nation which is so deeply and so generally infected by it as the German. Their academical institutions are distinguished from all others by the multitude of things which are taught in them. It is true that, in the rcgions of science, every part has a connection with the rest; and that, whoever wishes to produce something excellent and solid, must possess an extensive general knowledge: but the grand question is-Where ought this generality to cease? In the great German schools and gymnasia, students are generally taught Latin, Greek, (those intended for the church, also Hebrew,) French, Italian, and English; besides mathematics, natural philosophy, geography, history, music, dancing, fencing, and drawing. At the universities they not only attend to the studies connected with their particular profession, but in general embrace the whole circle of the sciences into the bargain. Thus each of the German literati becomes a kind of encyclopædia. The Germans are particularly partial to the study of the languages. The acquisition of the modern, that is, of French, English, and Italian, is so common, that you meet with very few of the literati of consequence but what understand them; and, on the other hand, with great numbers who have made themselves masters of all the polished languages of Europe; so that this is no longer a rarity. Hence it is that collections of French, English, and Italian authors, are even now, notwithstanding the pressure of the times, printing in several places of Germany at once, and have a rapid sale. But, even with these extensive attainments, many are not satisfied; but learn, besides, the Oriental and Slavoni