with 41st of Massuccio; the 4th has been suggested by the 10th of the 4th day of Boccaccio; the first part of the fifth is from the Meunier d' Aleus, through the medium of the 106th of Sacchetti, the second part is from the 8th of the 8th day of the Decameron, &c. &c. There are nine stories in the first day of Parabosco, and seven in the second, which concludes with the discussion of four questions, as whether there is most pleasure in hope or enjoyment. In the third day there is only one tale, and the rest of the time is occupied with the relation of bon mots, which are methodically divided into the defensive, aggressive, &c. They are in general very indifferent: a musician playing in a brutal company, is told he is an Orpheus. A man performing on a lute, asserts he had never learnt to play, and is desired to reserve his assurances for those who suppose he has. One boasted he knew a knave by sight, whence it is inferred by a person present, that he must have often studied his mirror, &c. &c. Though Parabosco has only left seventeen novels, it would appear he had intended to favour the public with a hundred, which must have been nearly ready for publication from what he says in one of his letters, Spero fra pochi giorni mandar fuora Cento Novelle;

diciasette delle quali per ora n' ho mandato in questi miei Diporti."

MARCO CADEMOSTO DA LODI1

was an ecclesiastic, and lived in the Roman court during the pontificates of Leo X. and Clement VII. by both of whom he was patronised. His six novels were printed at Rome in 1544, along with his rime, for he too was a poet, like the other Italian novelists. He informs us in his proœmium, that he had lost twenty-seven tales he had written during the sack of Rome, all of which were founded on fact: of the six that remain, the only one that is tolerable is that of an old man, who, by will, leaves his whole fortune to hospitals. An ancient and faithful servant of the family having learned the nature of this iniquitous testament, informs his master's sons. On the night in which the old gentleman dies, he is removed to another room, and the domestic, in concert with the young men, lies down in his place; he then sends for a notary, and dictates a will in favour of his master's sons, be,

Sonetti ed altre rime, con alcune Novelle.

queathing himself, to their no small disappointment, an enormous legacy.

We shall be detained but a short while with the remaining Italian novelists, as they have in a great measure only imitated their predecessors, and frequently indeed merely repeated, in different language, what had formerly been told.

The succeeding novelists are chiefly distinguished from their predecessors by their more frequent employment of sanguinary incidents, and the introduction of scenes of incredible atrocity and accumulated horrors. None of their number have carried these to greater excess than

GIOVANNI GIRALDI CINTHIO,

author of the Ecatommithi, who is the earliest of the succeeding novelists, who, from their merit or popularity, are at all worthy of being mentioned. Cinthio was born at Ferrara, the beginning of the 16th century, was secretary to Hercules Second, duke of Ferrara, and was a scholar and poet of some eminence. His death happened in 1673, but farther notices concerning his life may be found in Barotti's Defence of the Ferrarese Authors against the Censure of Fontanini. The

tales of Cinthio were first printed in 1565, at Montreal, in Sicily, 2 vols 8vo; afterwards at Venice, 1566; and thirdly, at the same place, in 1574. Though the title of the work of Giraldi imports, that it contains a hundred tales, it in fact consists of a hundred and ten; as there are ten stories in the introduction which precedes the first decade. The whole work is divided into two parts, each of which contains five decades, and every decade, as the name implies, comprehends ten stories.

The introduction contains examples of the happiness of connubial, and the miseries of illicit love. The 1st decade is miscellaneous; 2. Histories of amours carried on in opposition to the will of relatives or superiors; 3. Of the infidelity of wives and husbands; 4. Of those who, laying snares for others, accomplish their own ruin; 5. Examples of connubial fidelity in trying circumstances; 6. Acts of generosity and courtesy; 7. Bon mots and sayings; 8. Examples of ingratitude; 9. Remarkable vicissitudes of fortune; 10. Atti di Cavalleria.

Cinthio deduces the relation of these multifarious tales from the sack of Rome in 1527. He feigns, that on account of the disorder and pestilence by which that event was followed, ten ladies and gentlemen sailed for Marseilles, and, during

the voyage, related stories for each other's entertainment. Thus, in many external circumstances, Cinthio has imitated Boccaccio; as in the escape from the pestilence, which is the cause of the relation of many Italian novels—the number of the tales -the Greek appellation bestowed on them, and the limitation to a particular subject during each day. In the tales, however, little resemblance can be traced. The style of Cinthio is laboured, while extravagance and improbability are the chief characteristics of his incidents. It is asserted, in a preface to the third edition of the Ecatommithi, that all the stories are founded on fact; but certainly none of the Italian novels have less that appearance. The 2d tale of the 2d decade is a striking example of those incidents of accumulated horror and atrocity, in which Cinthio seems to have chiefly delighted, and which border on the ludicrous when carried to excess. Orbecche, daughter of Sulmone, king of Persia, fell in love with a young Armenian, called Orontes, and for his sake refused the hand of the prince of Parthia, who had been selected as her husband by her parents. Her father long remained ignorant of the cause of her disobedience, but at last discovered that she was privately married to Orontes, and had two children by him. The unfortunate family esca