de Florentinorum Litteratura Principes fere synchroni Scriptores denuo in lucem prodeunt. Cura et Studio G. C. Galletti, Florence, 1847, 4to. Bruni's work was first printed at Perugia, by S. Zecchini's heirs, 1672, 4to, and is prefixed to many editions of The Divine Comedy. Manetti's was first published by Mehus, Florence, 1747. Filelfo's wretched work was printed by Moreno, Florence, 1828, 8vo.

§ 2. MODERN BIOGRAPHERS OF DANTE. - Innumerable are the names of those who in recent times have written on Dante's life, both in Italy and abroad. It is no part of our purpose to give a full list of these here, but merely to point out the principal and most important among them. Having collected nearly all the documents known up to that time, Giuseppe Pelli, a Florentine patrician, laid the foundations for a scientific biography of the great poet. But, if Pelli showed great diligence in his work, he, on the other hand, failed to exercise the necessary criticism, drawing his materials from every quarter, without despising even the impostures of the miserable Filelfo. The Marquis Dionisi of Verona and Count Carlo Troya, in their writings, made important contributions, partly of things that had previously been too much neglected, to the history of Dante's life and times. Great and well-deserved success attended Count Cesare Balbo's Life of Dante, hitherto the best work of this kind. Superficial and tiresome, on the contrary, is Melchiorre Missirini's bulky volume, which, perhaps, just because it is so light and superficial, had the good luck to reach a

fourth edition. Resuming and completing Pelli's work, Pietro Fraticelli wrote a Life of Dante (Storia della Vita di Dante Alighieri), more important on account of the documents contained in it than of the work of the diligent compiler. More compendious biographies we have in great number, both in special treatises and forming introductions to different editions of The Divine Comedy. But, in all this multitude of short biographies, it would be hard to find one that deserved any attention, or that rose above the mediocrity and superficiality common to so many books and pamphlets on Dante, whose number, unfortunately, is growing from year to year.

Pelli, Giuseppe: Memorie per servire alla Vita di Dante Alighieri ed alla Storia della sua Famiglia. Second edition ; much enlarged. Florence, 1823, 8vo.

Dionisi, Gian Giacopo: Preparazione istorica e critica alla nuova Edizione di Dante Alighieri. Verona, 1806, 2 vols., 8vo.

Troya, Carlo Del Veltro Allegorico di Dante. Florence, 1826, 8vo. Del Veltro Allegorico dei Ghibellini. Naples, 1856, 8vo.

Balbo, Cesare: Vita di Dante. Turin, 1839, 2 vols., 8vo. Several times reprinted.1 Compare Todeschini, Osservazioni e Censure alla Vita di Dante scritta dal Conte Cesare Balbo, in his Scritti su Dante, vol. I, pp. 261-387.

Missirini, Melchiorre: Vita di Dante. Fourth edition, with additions, edited and unedited, by the Author. Milan and Venice, 1844, 8vo.

[1 Translated by Mrs. Bunbury.]

Fraticelli, Pietro: Storia della Vita di Dante Alighieri, compilate sui Documenti in parte raccolti da Giuseppe Pelli, in parte inediti. Florence, 1861, 12m0.

Numerous biographies of Dante are to be found, not only in Italian literature, but also in the literatures of the other peoples of Europe. But, with the exception of a few works coming from learned Germany, we find hardly any original treatises that are more than compilations, more or less accurate, more or less superficial. Among biographical works in English, we may mention those of Véricour, Mignaty, Botta, and Rossetti. France has mediocre biographies by Chabanon, Artaud, Magnier, Dauphin, and others. In German literature, there comes first, leaving all works of the same kind far behind it, the learned and very accurate work of Blanc, in Ersch & Gruber's gigantic Encyclopædie.

The most complete and best known biographies of Dante in German are those of Wegele and Scartazzini. More concise and popular are the works of Ruth, Floto, Notter, etc. In the literatures of other nations we find no work on this subject deserving of notice.

Véricour, Raymond de: The Life and Times of Dante. London, 1858, 8vo.

Mignaty, Albana: An Historical Sketch, illustrative of the Life and Times of Dante Alighieri. Florence, 1865, 12mo. Botta, Vincenzo: Dante as Philosopher, Patriot, and Poet. New York, 1867, 8vo.

Rossetti, Maria Francesca: A Shadow of Dante: Being an

Essay towards studying Himself, his World, and his Pilgrimage. London, 1872, 8vo.1

Chabanon, M. de Vie du Dante, avec une Notice détaillée de ses Ouvrages. Paris, 1773, 8vo.

Montor, Artaud de: Histoire de Dante Alighieri. Paris, 1841, 8vo.

Magnier, Edmond: Dante et le Moyen-Âge. Paris, 1860, 8vo. Dauphin, Henri: Vie du Dante. Analyse de la Divine

Comédie. Paris, 1869, 8vo.

Blanc, L. G.: Dante Alighieri nach seinem Leben und literarischen Werken geschildert. In Ersch & Gruber's Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste. Sec. I, vol. xxiii. Leipzig, 1832, 4to, pp. 34-79.

Wegele, Franz Xaver : Dante Alighieri's Leben und Werke, im Zusammenhange dargestellt. 3d edit. Jena, 1879, 8vo. Scartazzini, Giov. And.: Dante Alighieri, seine Zeit, sein Leben, und seine Werke. 2d edit. Frankfort-on-the-Maine,

1879, 8vo.

Ruth, Emil: Das Leben des Dante Alighieri. In the first volume of his Geschichte der italienischen Poesie. Leipzig, 1844, 8vo.

Floto, Hartwig: Dante Alighieri, sein Leben und seine Werke. Stuttgart, 1852, 12mo.

Notter, Friedrich: Sechs Vorträge über Dante. Stuttgart, 1861, 8vo.

§ 3. BIOGRAPHIC MONOGRAPHS. With few excep

tions, the modern biographies of Dante, both Italian and foreign, are merely compilations, more or less dili

[1 Along with these deserves to be mentioned Mr. J. R. Lowell's admirable essay on Dante, in Among my Books, second series, pp. 1-124. Though containing some inaccuracies, this is the best thing on Dante in the English language.]

gent. Even in the much-lauded German works of Wegele and Scartazzini, we find very little that deserves to be considered the result of new researches. The first essentially follows in the steps of Balbo; the second, in those of Dionisi and Fraticelli. So vast is the field, and so difficult of tillage, that the powers of a single man are not at present sufficient to deal with all the parts of it equally, even were he to devote a whole lifetime to such studies. The task will be much easier in the future, when the literature on Dante shall have been enriched by a goodly number of biographical monographs. A beginning was made some time ago. Persons have begun to make researches in libraries, with the view of bringing to light authentic documents hitherto unknown, as well as to study, with set purpose and with more care than formerly, all that relates to the various circumstances of Dante's life. The scholars of two nations, the Italian and the German, are vying with each other in seeking to settle definitely the truth of the facts relating to the life and times of the great poet. For any one who desires to keep pace with the results of scientific researches in this field, it is no longer sufficient to study Dante's works and a few modern biographies: he must address himself to the not light task of perusing a couple of hundred monographs, scattered about in as many volumes, pamphlets, and magazines, Italian and foreign.

It is true that, in many cases, the net result of such labor is very meagre, and that very little is to be derived