Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

VIII., of England, was an Augustine monk, and born at Toulouse. He is also supposed to have been the royal historiographer, and preceptor in grammar to prince Arthur.

ALTISSIMO, an Italian poet, a native of Florence. His name was Christopher; but on account of his merit, he received a poetic crown, and the sirname of Altissimo. He was one of the most admired improvisatori of his time, and his verses are said to have been often collected and published. One of his poems is now extant, entitled, "I Riali di Francia," 1534, 4to.

ANTONIO CORNAZZANO, an Italian poet, was born at Placentia. He passed some part of his life at Milan, and afterwards travelled into France. On his return he went to Ferrara, where he continued till his death, patronized by the duke Hercules I. He left a great many works, the most considerable of which is an Italian poem, in nine books, on the military art, with the Latin title of "De Re Militari," Venice, 1493, folio; Pesaro, 1507, 8vo. &c. His lyric poems and sonnets were published in 1502, 8vo.

PETER APOLLONIUS COLLATIUS, a priest of Navarre, who wrote a poem on the siege of Jerusalem, which, with other poems, was published at Milan in 1692, 8vo.

JORGE D'MANRIQUE, a Spanish poet of the old school, who has retained, to the present period of time, a large share of popularity. He is chiefly celebrated for the forty-two stanzas upon the death of his father, which are so natural, and which, being upon a subject that interests every breast, are read with pleasure by all persons, from the throne to the friar's cell; they have been frequently reprinted with paraphrases and commentaries. The other pieces of this poet are to be found in the "Cancionero." It was affirmed by John II. of Portugal, that it was as necessary for a man to know these stanzas by heart, as to know the pater-noster.

FERDINAND ALVAREZ DE ORIENTE, an esteemed Portuguese poet, was born at Goa, in the Indies, about the commencement of the reign of king Sebastian. He served in the royal navy, and was captain of one of the vessels belonging to the squadron which admiral Tellez commanded in India, during the viceroyalty of Moniz-Barreto. His principal work is, "Lusitania Transformada." The language is pure, and the descriptions striking and natural. It was printed first at Lisbon, 1607, 8vo. A few years after, a more correct edition was published by father Fogos, of the oratory. Our poet also wrote an elegy, which has been highly esteemed, and the fifth and sixth parts of the romance of Calmerin of England.

AUSIAS MARCH, a poet of Valencia, in Spain, who celebrated his country-woman Theresa Bou, much in the same manner as Petrarch celebrated Laura. Each has been accused of borrowing from the other; but it is, perhaps, more probable that both copied from some earlier poet, as Messen Jordi, a

poet of Spain, or that the similarity of the subject caused an accidental resemblance. March was not, however, so constant as Petrarch, for he sung also a second mistress, Nacletta de Bergia.

PETER PLACENTIUS, a German poet, who appears to have been extravagantly fond of his own initials, for he wrote a Latin poem of 360 verses, entitled Pugna Porcorum, in which every word begins with a P. It was printed at Antwerp in 1530, and again in the "Nuga Venales." The author died in 1548.

MARC ANTONIO CASANOVA, called the prince of Latin epigrammatists of his time, was descended from a family in Como, but was born at Rome. He imitated Catullus and Martial; but affecting the wit and severity of the latter, he deviated from the nature and purity of the former. Being engaged in the service of the Colonna family, he exercised his satire against Pope Clement VII. with so little moderation, that he was imprisoned and sentenced to death, but obtained a pardon from the pontiff. His fate, however, was not less deplorable; for after the sacking of Rome, being reduced to extreme poverty, he wandered about the streets, begging his bread, and died either of want or the plague, in 1527. Besides his epigrams, he wrote short eclogues, or inscriptions on the principal characters of ancient Rome. A selection of his pieces is to be found in the first volume of the "Delicia Poetarum Italorum."

MACRINUS, an excellent Latin poet, was born in London. His real name was John Salmon; but he took that of Macrinus from his being frequently so called in ridicule by Francis I., on account of his extraordinary leanness. He was preceptor to Claudius of Savoy, count Tende; and to Honorius, the count's brother, and wrote several pieces of poetry in lyric verse, which were so much admired, that he was called the Horace of his time. He died of old age, at London, in 1555.

LEWIS CHOCQUET, a famous French poet, and author of a very extraordinary and scarce work, to the third part of which he only put his name. The Catholic works and acts of the apostles, set down in writing by St. Luke, evangelist and historiographer, chosen by the Holy Ghost, &c., printed at Paris in 1541.

D'AUVERGNE MARTIAL, a French poet who was procurator in the parliament of Paris, and notary of Chatêlet. He died in 1508. His works are-1. Arrets l'Amour, or Love Causes. 2. Vigiles de la Mort du Roi, Charles VIII. 3. L' Amant rendu Cordelier de l'Observance d'Amour. 4. Devotes Louanges à la Vierge Marie.

ALBERT AVOGADRO, of Verceil in Italy, flourished under the reign of Cosmo de Medicis, grand duke of Florence, whose piety and magnificence he extolled in a poem in elegiac

verse, consisting of two books. It was printed in two books, and in the 12th volume of Laurie's "Delicia Eruditormu."

MATTEO MARIA BOIARDO, of Ferrara, count of Scandiano, celebrated for his Italian Poems. His principal work is his "Orlando Inamorato." His Latin Eclogues and Sonnets are also much admired.

OLIVER BASSELIN, a fuller, of Vine in Normandy, the author of some ballads.

MARK JEROME VIDA, an excellent Latin poet, was born at Cremona in 1470. He was made bishop of Alva in 1552. He wrote hymns, eclogues, and poems, in Latin; and in prose, dialogues, constitutions, letters, and other pieces. He died in 1566. The fame of this poet in England has been greatly promoted by the well known lines in Pope's Essay on Criticism, which place him in parallel with Raphael, and entitle Cremona to boast of him, as much as Mantua of Virgil; but this was the hyperbolical eulogy of a juvenile writer, which his maturer judgment would scarcely have confirmed. The best edition of his poems is that of Oxford, 3 vols. 8vo.

PETER CAMÍLIANUS, a Latin poet, an Englishman by nation. Erasmus, and Andrew Ammonius, speak of him with contempt. He published among other poems, an epitaph to James VI., king of Scotland, who was slain at the battle of Flodden-field, in 1513.

PUBLIUS FAUSTUS ANDRELINUS, born at Forli, in Italy. He was long professor of poetry and philosophy in the university of Paris. Lewis XII. made him his poet laureat. His pen was not wholly employed in making verses; for he wrote also moral and proverbial letters in prose, which were printed several times. His poems, which are chiefly in Latin, are inserted in vol. I. of the "Delicia Poetarum Italorum.' M. de la Monnoie tells us, that "Andrelinus, when he was but twenty-two years old, received the crown of laurel; and that his love verses, divided into five books, entitled Livia, from the name of his mistress, were esteemed so fine by the Roman academy, that they adjudged the prize of the Latin clergy to the author." He died in 1518.

[ocr errors]

JANUS ANYSIUS, or GRIVANNO ANISO, was born at Naples about the year 1472, and died about 1540. As a Latin poet he acquired great celebrity in his day. His works are, 1. Poemata et Satyræ ad Propium Columnam Cardinalem, 1531 and 1532, 2 vols. 4to. 2. Protogenos tragedia, 1536, 4to. 3. Commentariolus in tragædiam, &c. 4. Epistolæ de religione. He had a brother named Cosmo, who was also a Latin poet and physician by profession, whose works were printed at Naples in 1537, 4to.

JOHN LE MAIRE, a French poet, a native of Bauvais in Hainault, where he was born in 1473, and died in 1524. He wrote an allegorical poem, entitled "Les trois Contes de Cupi

don et d' Atropos;" also "Les Illustrationes des Gaules, et Lingulantées des Troyes;" and "A Panegyric on Margaret of Austria."

FRANCIS ARSILLI, a celebrated poet and physician, flourished under the pontificates of Leo X., and Clement VII. He was born at Sinigaglia, studied at Padua, and practised medicine at Rome. His friend, Paul Jovius, asserts that he never passed a day without producing some poetical composition. He died in the 66th year of his age at Sinigaglia, in 1540. He wrote a poem in Latin verse," De poetis Urbanis," addressed to Paul Jovius; in which he celebrates the names, and characterizes the works of a number of Latin poets of Rome in the age of Leo X. It was first printed in the Coryciana, Rome, 1524, 4to.; and reprinted by Tiraboschi, with the addition of many other names. It has also been reprinted by Mr. Roscoe, in his life of Leo, who asserts that Arsilli's complaint of the neglect of the poets in the time of that pontiff was unjust.

GEORGE ANSELM, a Latin poet, was a native of Parma, of a very ancient family, and was eminent as a physician, and man of general literature. He took the title of Nepos to distinguish him from another George Anselm, his grandfather, a mathematician and astronomer, who died about 1440. George Anselm died in 1528.

LUDOVICO ARIOSTO, the famous Italian poet, author of Orlando Furioso, was born at the castle of Reggio, in Lombardy, in 1474. His father, who was major-d'omo to duke Hercules, lived to the extent of his fortune, and so left but little at his death. Ariosto, from his childhood showed great marks of genius, especially in poetry; and wrote a tragedy in verse on the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, which his brother and sisters played. His father being utterly unlearned, and regarding profit more than his son's inclination, compelled him to study the civil law, in which having plodded some years to no purpose, he quitted it for more pleasing studies; yet often lamented, as Ovid and Plutarch did before him, and our Milton since, that his father banished him from the Muses. At the age of twenty-four, Ariosto lost his father, and found himself perplexed with family affairs. However, in about six years, he was, for his good parts, taken into the service of Hippolito, cardinal of Este. At this time he had written nothing but a few sonnets; but he now resolved to make a poem, and chose Bayardo's Orlando Inamorato for a ground-work. However, he was prevented writing for a great many years, and was chosen as a fit person to go on an embassy to pope Julian II., where he gave such satisfaction, that he was sent again, underwent many dangers and difficulties, and at his return was highly favoured. Then, at his leisure, he again applied himself to his VOL. IV.

Q

[ocr errors]

poem; but soon after, he incurred the cardinal's displeasure for refusing to accompany him into Hungary, by which he was so discouraged, that he deferred writing for fourteen years, even till the cardinal's death. After that, he finished by degrees, in great perfection, that which he began with great expectation. Duke Astolfo offered him great promotions if he would serve him; but, preferring liberty to grandeur, he refused this and other great offers from princes and cardinals, particularly from Leo X., from all whom, however, he received great presents. The duke of Ferrara delighted so much in his comedies, of which he wrote five, that he built a stage on purpose to have them acted in his court, and enabled our poet to build himself a house in Ferrara, with a pleasant garden, where he used to compose his poems, which were highly esteemed by all the princes in Italy, who sent him many presents; but he said, he would not sell his liberty for the best cardinal's hat in Rome." It was a small though convenient house; being asked why he had not built it in a magnificent manner, since he had given such noble descriptions of sumptuous palaces, beautiful porticoes, and pleasant fountains, in his Orlando Furioso, he replied, "that words were cheaper thrown together than stones." In his diet he was so temperate, that he was fit to have lived in the world when men fed upon acorns. Whether he was ever married, is uncertain. He kept company with one Alexandria, to whom it was reported, he was married privately, and a lady Genevera, whom he often mentions in the 24th book of his Orlando, as poets intermix with their fictions some real amours of their own. He was urged to go ambassador to pope Clement, but would by no means accept this embassy. He translated the "Menocmi" of Plautus; and all his own comedies were so much esteemed, that they were frequently acted by persons of the first quality. When his Lena was first represented, Ferdinand of Este, afterwards marquis of Massa, spoke the prologue. He began one of his comedies in his father's life-time, when the following incident shows the remarkable talent he had for poetry. His father one day rebuked him sharply, charging him with some great fault; but all the while he returned no answer. Soon after his brother began the same subject; but he easily refuted him, and, with a strong argument, justified his own behaviour. "Why, then," said his brother, "did you not satisfy my father?" "In truth," said Ludovico, "I was thinking of a part of my comedy; and methought my father's speech was so suited to the part of an old man's chiding his son, that I forgot I was concerned in it myself, and considered only to make it a part of my play." Ariosto was tall, of a melancholy complexion, and so absorbed in study and meditation, that he often forgot himself. His picture was drawn by Titian in a masterly manner. He was

« ZurückWeiter »