| Italian Poets 2 - Italy - Nothing is told us... |
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Index | pg. 6 |Previous Page - Next Page Nothing is told us ...Nothing is told us by his biographers of the person of Boiardo: and it is not safe to determine a man's _physique_ from his writings, unless perhaps with respect to the greater or less amount of his animal spirits; for the able-bodied may write effeminately, and the feeblest supply the defect of corporal stamina with spiritual. Portraits, however, seem to be extant. Mazzuchelli discovered that a medal had been struck in the poet's honour; and in the castle of Scandiano (though "the halls where knights and ladies listened to the adventures of the Paladin are now turned into granaries," and Orlando himself has nearly disappeared from the outside, where he was painted in huge dimensions as if "entrusted with the wardenship") there was a likeness of Boiardo executed by Niccolo dell' Abate, together with the principal events of the _Orlando Innamorato_ and the _AEneid_.But part of these paintings (Mr. Panizzi tells us) were destroyed, and part removed from the castle to Modena" to save them from certain loss;" and he does not add whether the portrait was among the latter.From anecdotes, however, and from the poet's writings, we gather the nature of the man; and this appears to have been very amiable. There is an aristocratic tone in his poem, when speaking of the sort of people of whom the mass of soldiers is wont to consist; and Foscolo says, that the Count of Scandiano writes like a feudal lord. But common soldiers are not apt to be the _elite_ of mankind; neither do we know with how goodnatured a smile the mention of them may have been accompanied. People often give a tone to what they read, more belonging to their own minds than the author's. All the accounts left us of Boiardo, hostile as well as friendly, prove him to have been an indulgent and popular man. According to one, he was fond of making personal inquiries among its inhabitants into the history of his native place; and he requited them so generously for their information, that it was customary with them to say, when they wished good fortune to one another, "Heaven send Boiardo to your house!" There is said to have been a tradition at Scandiano, that having tried in vain one day, as he was riding out, to discover a name for one of his heroes, expressive of his lofty character, and the word _Rodamonte_ coming into his head, he galloped back with a pleasant ostentation to his castle, crying it out aloud, and ordering the bells of the place to be rung in its holiour; to the astonishment of the good people, who took "Rodamonte" for some newly-discovered saint. His friend Paganelli of Modena, who wrote a Latin poem on the _Empire of Cupid_, extolled the Governor of Reggio for ranking among the deity's most generous vassals,--one who, in spite of his office of magistrate, looked with an indulgent eye on errors to which himself was liable, and who was accustomed to prefer the study of love-verses to that of the law. The learned lawyer, his countryman Panciroli, probably in resentment, as Panizzi says, of this preference, accused him of an excess of benignity, and of being fitter for writing poems than punishing ill deeds; and in truth, as the same critic observes, "he must have been considered crazy by the whole tribe of lawyers of that age," if it be true that he anticipated the opinion of Beccaria, in thinking that no crime ought to be punished with death. The great work of this interesting and accomplished person, the _Orlando Innamorato_, is an epic romance, founded on the love of the great Paladin for the peerless beauty Angelica, whose name has enamoured the ears of posterity. The poem introduces us to the pleasantest paths in that track of reading in which Milton has told us that his "young feet delighted to wander." Nor did he forsake it in his age. "Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp, When Agrican with all his northern powers Besieged Albracca, as romances tell, The city of Gallaphrone, from whence to win The fairest of her sex, Angelica." _Paradise Regained._ Index | pg. 6 |Previous Page - Next Page Italy Hotels - Italy Hostels - Italy Sights ................................................................ Other popular Italy book pages: Manzo sugo di Barbabietole (Fillet Beef) Manzo in Insalata (Marinated Beef) Fillets of Beef Pistacchios - Filetto Scalopini di Riso (Beef with Risotto) Tenerumi alla Piemontese (Tendons of Veal) Bragiuole di Vitello (Veal Cutlets) Costolette alla Manza (Veal Cutlets) Online Italy Books Italian Renaissance Italian Recipes Italian Poetry Roman Mythology |
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Italy Travel Guide A good starting point for researching Italy for travel or reference. Venice - Piazza St. Marco (St. Mark's Square) Venice - Gondola along the Grand Canal Venice - Walking around Venice Streets Venice - Pictures from the Venice canals Venice - From the Train Station to St. Mark's 1 Venice - From the Train Station to St. Mark's 2 Ceasar's European Discovery Pictures. Italy Pg.1 Breathtaking Italy and France Ceasar's European Discovery Pictures. Italy Pg. 2 Florence and Venice Arno River in Florence Campania |
