[1831-33.]
It is one of Rochefoucauld’s maxims, that “in order to establish a great
reputation, it is not enough for one to possess great qualities, he must
also economize them.” If Mezzofanti had desired to act upon this prudent
principle, he could not possibly have chosen a worse position than Rome.
From the very moment of his arrival there, his gift of language was
daily, and almost hourly, exposed to an ordeal at once more varied and
more severe than it would have encountered in any other city in the
world. Without taking into account the many eminent linguists, native
and foreign, for whom Rome has ever been celebrated; without reckoning
the varying periodical influx of sight-seers, from every country in
Europe, who are attracted to that city by the unrivalled splendour
of her sacred ceremonial, and the more constant, though less noisy,
stream of pilgrims from the remotest lands, who are drawn by duty, by
devotion, or by ecclesiastical affairs, to the great centre of Catholic
unity;—the permanent population of the Eternal City will be found to
comprise a variety of races and tongues, such as would be sought in
vain in any other region of the earth. From a very early period, the
pious liberality, sometimes of the popes, sometimes of the natives
of the various countries themselves, began to found colleges for the
education, under the very shadow of the chair of Peter, of at least a
select few among the clergy of each people; and, notwithstanding the
confiscations of later times, there are few among the more prominent
nationalities which do not even still possess in Rome, either a special
national establishment, or, at least, a special foundation for national
purposes in some of the many general establishments of the city. In
like manner, most of the great religious orders, both of the East and
of the West, possess separate houses for each of the countries in which
they are established; and few, even of the most superficial visitors of
Rome, can have failed to observe, among the animated groups which throng
the Pincian Hill or the Strada Pia, at the approach of the Ave Maria,
the striking variety of picturesque costumes by which these national
orders are distinguished. Each, again, of the several rites in communion
with the Holy See—the Greek, the Syrian, the Coptic, the Armenian—has,
for the most part, an archbishop or bishop resident at Rome, to afford
information or counsel on affairs connected with its national usages, and
to take a part in all the solemn ceremonials, as a living witness of the
universality of the Church.
But before all, and more than all, is the great Urban College—the college
of the Propaganda—which unites in itself all the nationalities already
described, together with many others of which no type is found elsewhere
in Europe. Every variety of language and dialect throughout the wide
range of western Christendom;—every eastern form of speech
From silken Samarcand to cedared Lebanon;
many of the half explored languages of the northern and southern
continents of America; and more than one of the rude jargons of north
and north-eastern Africa, may be found habitually domiciled within its
walls. In the year 1837, when Dr. Wap, a Dutch traveller, who has written
well and learnedly on Rome, visited the establishment, the hundred and
fourteen students who appeared upon its register, comprised no less than
forty-one distinct nationalities.[440]
Amid the vast variety of speech with which he was thus brought habitually
into contact, Mezzofanti, even if he had desired to “economize” his
reputed gifts, could not possibly have done so without provoking a
suspicion of their questionableness, or at least of their superficial
character. Nor, on the other hand, would he have ventured to expose
the undeniable reputation which he had already established, although
upon a provincial theatre, to the ordeal which awaited him in the great
centre of languages, living or dead, had he not been supported by the
consciousness of the reality of his attainments, as well as attracted by
the very prospect of increased facilities for pursuing and extending the
researches which had been the business and the enjoyment of his life. At
all events, we shall see that from the first moment of his establishment
in Rome, so far from having “economized” his extraordinary faculty of
language, he was most assiduous, and in truth prodigal, in its exercise.
Immediately on his arrival he was appointed canon of the church of Santa
Maria Maggiore. This, however, was but an earnest of the intentions of
the Pope, who, from the first, destined him for the highest honours of
the Roman Church. It is clear, nevertheless, from his correspondence,
that his affections still clung to his beloved Bologna. On occasion of
his first new year in his new residence, he received many letters from
his old friends, conveying to him the ordinary new year’s greetings. From
his reply to one of these letters which was addressed to him by a friend,
Signor Michele Ferrucci, professor of Eloquence in the university, we may
gather how warm and cordial were the attachments which he had left behind.
_Rome, January 4, 1852._
“The new-year greetings which, for so many years, I used to
receive from you in person, were always most grateful to me,
because I knew them to be the genuine expression of your
affection for me. In like manner the kind wishes conveyed in
your letter are no less acceptable, since they show me that
separation has not diminished your regard. I shall always
retain a lively sense of it; and wherever I may be, it shall
be my endeavour to give proofs by my conduct that I am not
insensible to it. Let one of these be the assurance of my most
zealous exertions to secure for you the change of position
which you are seeking, from the chair of eloquence to that
of assistant professor of archæology. I think it advisable
that means should be taken to make known here the wishes
of the professor himself, the Canonico Schiassi; and it is
indispensable that the measure should not only originate with
his eminence the arch-chancellor, but should have his most
earnest support. So far as I am concerned, I shall leave
nothing undone that may tend to further your wishes.
I was deeply affected in reading your wife’s sonnets on the
death of her sister and her father. May God grant that, this
great affliction past, a heart so full of tenderness as hers,
may meet nothing in life but joy and consolation in the
continued prosperity of her dear family! Present my respects
to her, and make my compliments to my old associates in the
library. I never for a single day forget that happy spot, and I
seldom cease to speak of it.
If there be any matter in which I can be of use to you, I beg
of you not to spare me.”
One of Mezzofanti’s first impulses on his being established in Rome,
was to turn to account, as a means of extending his store of languages,
the manifold advantages of his new position. On a careful survey of
the rich and varied resources supplied by the foreign ecclesiastical
establishments of Rome, and especially by the great treasure-house of the
Propaganda, he found that there was one language, and that a language to
which he had long and anxiously looked forward—the Chinese—which was, as
yet, entirely unrepresented; the native students destined for the mission
of China, being at that time exclusively educated in the Chinese College
at Naples. It happened most opportunely that at this time Monsignor de
Bossi, (afterwards administrator Apostolic of Nankin), was about to visit
that institution, and proposed to Mezzofanti to accompany him;—a proposal
which, as filling up agreeably the interval of rest which he enjoyed
before entering upon the routine of the duties which awaited him, he
gladly accepted.
The Chinese College of Naples was founded in 1725, by the celebrated
Father Matthew Ripa,[441] with the permission of the reigning Pope
Benedict XIII, and was formally approved by a bull of Clement XIII,
April 5, 1732.[442] In the earlier and more favoured days of the Chinese
mission, although it was chiefly supplied by European clergy, yet the
missionaries freely opened, not alone elementary schools, but seminaries
for the training of native catechists who assisted in the work of the
mission, even within the precincts of the Imperial City. But the unhappy
divisions among the missionaries upon the well-known question, as to
the lawfulness of the so-called “Chinese ceremonies;” and the severe
enactments which followed the final and decisive condemnation of these
ceremonies by Clement XI., not only cut off all hope of this domestic
supply of catechists, but effectually excluded all European missionaries
from the Chinese Empire. The only hope, therefore, of sustaining the
mission was to provide a supply of native clergy, who might pass
unnoticed among the population, or who would at least possess one chance
of security against detection, which the very appearance of a foreigner
would preclude. With this view, Father Ripa brought together at Pekin a
small number of youths, whom he hoped to train up under a native master,
engaged by him for the purpose. A short experience of this plan, however,
convinced him, not merely of its danger, but even of its absolute
impracticability; and he saw that the only hope of success for such an
institution would be, not only to place the establishment beyond the
reach of persecution from the Chinese authorities, but, (as the great
Pope Innocent III. had contemplated a college at Paris for native Greek
youths),[443] even to withdraw the candidates altogether for a time
from the contagion of domestic influences and domestic associations.
Himself a Neapolitan, (having been born at Eboli, in the kingdom of
Naples,) Ripa’s thoughts naturally turned to his own country for the
means of accomplishing his design; and, after numberless difficulties,
he succeeding in transferring to his native city, under the name of “the
Holy Family of Jesus Christ,” the institution which he had projected at
Pekin. It consists of two branches, the college, and the congregation.
The latter is an association of priests and lay brothers, (not bound,
however, by religious vows), very similar in its constitution to the
Oratory of St. Philip Neri. The object of their association is the care
and direction of the College.
The College, on the other hand, is designed for the purpose of
educating and preparing for the priesthood, or at least for the office
of catechist, natives of China, Cochin China, Pegu, Tonquin, and
the Indian Peninsula. They are maintained free of all cost, and are
conducted to Europe and back to their native country at the charge of the
congregation; merely binding themselves to devote their lives, either
as priests or as catechists, to the duties of their native mission,
under the direction and jurisdiction of the sacred congregation of the
Propaganda. Since the time of the withdrawal of the European missionaries
from China, the mission has relied mainly upon this admirable
institution; and even still its members continue to deserve well of the
Church. The priest, Francis Tien, whose cruel sufferings for the faith
are detailed by Mgr. Rizzolati in a letter published in the Annals of
the Propagation of the Faith, July 1846, was a pupil of this college. So
likewise is the excellent and zealous priest, Thomas Pian, who recently
volunteered his services to the Propaganda as a missionary to the Chinese
immigrants in California.
At the time of Mezzofanti’s visit, March 23, 1832, the superior of the
college of the Congregation was Father John Borgia, the last direct
representative of the noble family of that name. He received the great
linguist with the utmost cordiality; and during the entire time of
his sojourn, the students and superiors vied with each other in their
attentions to their distinguished guest. From the moment of his arrival
he had thrown himself with all his characteristic energy into the study
of the language; and notwithstanding its proverbial difficulty, and
its even to him entirely novel character, he succeeded in an incredibly
short time in mastering all the essential principles of its rudimental
structure. Most unfortunately, however, before he had time to pursue
his advantage, his strength gave way under this excessive application,
and he was seized with a violent fever,[444] by which his life was for
some time seriously endangered. The fever was attended by delirium,
the effect of which, according to several writers[445] who relate the
circumstance, was to confuse his recollection of the several languages
which he had acquired, and to convert his speech into a laughable jumble
of them all. This, however, although an amusing traveller’s story, is but
a traveller’s story after all. Mezzofanti himself told Cardinal Wiseman
that the effect of his illness was not merely to confuse, but to _suspend
his memory altogether_. He completely forgot all his languages. His mind
appeared to return to its first uneducated condition of thought, and
whatever he chanced to express in the course of his delirium was spoken
in simple Italian, as though he had never passed outside of its limits.
He was so debilitated by this illness, that immediately upon his
convalescence it became necessary for him to return to Rome without
attempting to resume his Chinese studies. Most opportunely, however,
for his wishes, the authorities of the Propaganda some years afterwards
transferred to Rome, as we shall see, a certain number of these Chinese
students, with the view of enabling them to complete with greater
advantage in the great missionary college the studies which they had
commenced in what might almost be called a domestic institution.
With their friendly assistance Mezzofanti completed what had been so
inauspiciously interrupted by his illness.[446]
The fatigues of the homeward journey brought on a renewal of the fever;
and for some weeks after his return to Rome, (from which he had been
absent about two months,) he suffered considerably from its effects.
Happily, however, it left no permanent trace in his constitution, and
the autumn of 1832 found him engaged once more with all his usual energy
in his favourite pursuit. The intention of the Pope in inviting him
to Rome, had been to place him at the head of the Vatican Library, as
successor of the celebrated Monsignor Angelo Mai, then First Keeper of
that collection, who was about to be transferred to the Secretaryship
of the Propaganda. The arrangements connected with this change of
offices, however, were not yet completed, and Mezzofanti availed
himself industriously of this interval of comparative leisure which the
delay placed at his disposal. His position at Rome brought him into
contact with several languages of which he had never before met any
living representative; and many of those which he had hitherto had but
rare and casual opportunities of speaking or hearing spoken were now
placed within his reach as languages of daily and habitual use. In the
Maronite convent of Sant’ Antonio he had ancient and modern Syriac, with
its various modifications, at his command. For Armenian, Persian, and
Turkish, the two learned Mechitarist communities of San Giuseppe and
Sant’ Antonio supplied abundant and willing masters. One of these, the
eminent linguist Padre Aucher, whose English-Armenian Grammar Lord Byron
more than once commemorates as their joint production,[447] was himself
master of no less than twelve languages. To the Ruthenian priests of S.
Maria in Navicella, he could refer for more than one of the Sclavonic
languages. The Greek college of St. Athanasius, owing to the late
troubles in Greece, was then untenanted, but there were several Greek
students in the Propaganda, awaiting its re-opening, which took place
in 1837. The celebrated Persian scholar, Sebastiani, had just recently
returned to Rome. Signor Drach, a learned Hebrew convert, was Librarian
of the Propaganda; and a venerable Egyptian priest, Don Georgio Alabada,
supplied an opportunity of practice in the ancient Coptic, as well as in
the Arabic dialect of modern Egypt.
In the German College were to be found not only all the principal tongues
of the Austrian Empire, German, Magyar, Czechish and Polish, but many
of its more obscure languages—Romanic, Wallachian, Servian, and many
minor varieties of German, Rhetian, (the dialect of the Graubünden, or
Grisons) Dutch, Flemish, and Frisian. In reference to some of these
languages, I have been able to avail myself of the recollections of more
than one student of this noble institution, as witness of Mezzofanti’s
extraordinary proficiency.
He was on terms of the closest intimacy with the Abbé Lacroix, of the
French church of St. Lewis, since known as the editor of the _Systema
Theologicum_ of Leibnitz. The Rector of the English College, Dr. (now
Cardinal) Wiseman, even then a distinguished orientalist, and professor
of oriental languages in the Roman university, and the Rector of the
Irish College, the present Archbishop of Dublin, were his especial
friends. In both these establishments, he was a welcome and not
unfrequent visitant.
The several embassies, also, afforded another, though of course less
familiar school. He often met M. Bunsen, the Minister Resident of
Prussia; he was frequently the guest of the Marquis de Lavradio, the
Portuguese ambassador, and Don Manuel de Barras, whose letter attesting
the purity and perfection of Mezzofanti’s Castilian, is now before me,
was an attaché of the Spanish Embassy.
The Propaganda, however, itself a perfect microcosm of language, was
his principal, as well as his favourite school. For his simple and
lively disposition, the society of the young had always possessed a
special charm; and to his very latest hour of health, he continued to
find his favourite relaxation among the youths of this most interesting
institution. In summer, he commonly spent an hour, in winter an hour
and a half, in the Propaganda, partly in the library, partly among the
students, among whom he held the place alternately of master and of
pupil;—and, what is still more curious, he occasionally appeared in both
capacities, first learning a language from the lips of a student, and
then in his turn instructing his teacher in the grammatical forms and
constitution of the very language he had taught him!
Independently, indeed, of study altogether, the Propaganda was for years
his favourite place of resort, and there was no place where his playful
and ingenuous character was more pleasingly displayed. He mixed among the
pupils as one of themselves, with all the ease of an equal, and without
a shade of that laborious condescension which often makes the affability
of superiors an actual penance to those whom they desire to render
happy. While the cheerfulness of his conversation was often tempered
by grave advice or tender exhortation, it was commonly lively and even
playful, and frequently ran into an amusing exhibition which those who
witnessed never could forget. In the free and familiar intercourse
which he encouraged and maintained, there sometimes arose sportive
trials of skill, in which the great amusement of his young friends
consisted in endeavouring to puzzle him by a confusion of languages,
and to provoke him into answering in a language different from that in
which he was addressed. The idea of these trials (which reminded one of
the old-fashioned game of “cross-question,”) appears to have originated
in a good-humoured surprise, which the Pope Gregory XVI. played off on
Mezzofanti soon after his arrival in Rome. The linguist, however, was
equal to the emergency. Like the good knight, Sir Tristram, he proved
“Most master of himself, and least encumbered,
When over-matched, entangled, and outnumbered.”
“One day,” says M. Manavit, “Gregory XVI. provided an agreeable surprise
for the polyglot prelate, and a rare treat for himself, in an improvised
conversation in various tongues—a regular linguistic tournament. Among
the mazy alleys of the Vatican gardens, behind one of the massive walls
of verdure which form its peculiar glory, the Pope placed a certain
number of the Propaganda students in ambuscade. When the time came for
his ordinary walk, he invited Mezzofanti to accompany him; and, as they
were proceeding gravely and solemnly, on a sudden, at a given signal,
these youths grouped themselves for a moment on their knees before his
Holiness, and then, quickly rising, addressed themselves to Mezzofanti,
each in his own tongue, with such an abundance of words and such a
volubility of tone, that, in the jargon of dialects, it was almost
impossible to hear, much less to understand them. But Mezzofanti did
not shrink from the conflict. With the promptness and address which were
peculiar to him, he took them up singly, and replied to each in his own
language, with such spirit and elegance as to amaze them all.”
In addition to these increased opportunities of exercise, he also derived
much assistance, in the more obscure and uncommon department of his
peculiar studies, from the libraries of Rome, and especially from that
of the Propaganda. The early elementary books, grammars, vocabularies,
catechisms, &c., prepared for the use of missionaries in the remote
missions, have for the most part been printed at the Propaganda press:
and the library of that institution contains in manuscript similar
elementary treatises in languages for the study of which no printed
materials existed at that time. To all these, of course, the great
linguist enjoyed the freest access; and it can hardly be doubted
that, during the first year of his residence in Rome, he did more to
enlarge his stock of words, and to perfect his facility and fluency in
conversation, than perhaps in any previous year of his life.
Immediately upon Mgr. Mai’s appointment to the Secretaryship of
the Propaganda, May 15th, 1833, Mezzofanti was installed as _Primo
Custode_, First Keeper of the Vatican Library; and about the same time
he was appointed to a Canonry in St. Peter’s. In the midst of the warm
congratulations which he received from all sides, it was not without
considerable distrust of his own powers, that he entered upon the office
of Librarian, as the successor of a scholar so eminent as Angelo Mai.
“It is no ordinary distinction,” he wrote to his friend Cav.
Pezzana, “to be called to succeed Mgr. Mai in the care of the
Vatican Library,—a post which has derived new brilliancy from
the brilliant qualities of its latest occupant: nor can I
overcome my apprehension lest the honour which I may gain by my
first few hours of office may decline, when it comes to be seen
how great is the difference between this distinguished man and
his successor. This fear, I confess, is a drawback upon my joy
at this happy event; but at the same time, I trust it will also
stimulate me to make every effort that the lustre of a position
in itself so honourable, may not be tarnished in my person. I
have only to wish that your congratulation, coming as it does
from a kindly feeling, may be an earnest of the successful
exercise of the diligence I am determined to use in my new
career, which is all the more grateful and honourable to me, as
it furnishes more frequent occasions of corresponding with you.”
There is another of his letters of the same period, which to many perhaps
will appear trivial, but which points in a still more amiable light, not
alone his unaffected piety and humility, but the homely simplicity of his
disposition, and the affection with which he cherished all the domestic
relations. It is addressed to his cousin, Antonia, who has already been
mentioned in a former part of this Memoir, but who, for some years before
Mezzofanti’s leaving Bologna, had been afflicted with blindness. On the
occasion of his appointment, this lady employed the pen of a common
friend, Signora Galli, of Bologna, to convey her congratulations to
Mezzofanti. It would seem, moreover, that she had intended on the same
occasion to make him a present, which Mezzofanti, out of consideration
for her limited means, had thought it expedient to decline.
“_Bologna, December 14, 1833._
My most esteemed cousin,
Accept, in return for all your kind congratulations and good
wishes, my most sincere prayer that God may bestow upon you
all the choicest blessings of the approaching festival. There
is _one_ present which it is in your power to make me, and one
which is especially suitable to a person so entirely devoted
to God as you are: it is to offer up the holy communion for me
on one of the coming festivals. I, upon my part, will offer
the Holy Sacrifice for you on the feast of St. John; and
on the same day I will make a special memento of your good
parish priest, the abate Landrino, who once, upon the same
day, showed me a kindness which I shall never forget. Pray
remember me to him, and also to dear Signora Galli, in whom, as
your secretary, you have found an admirable exponent of your
affectionate sentiments, for which I am deeply grateful to
you both. My nephews unite in best wishes for your health and
happiness. Make the best report from me at home, and believe me
always, your most affectionate cousin,
JOSEPH MEZZOFANTI.”