our own, took me apart one day, and spoke with an air of secrecy and
consternation to the following effect: "You must know that the
forthcoming play of _Esop in the Town_ will contain a scene,
interpolated, not translated from the original, in which you, your
brothers Francesco and Almorò, and Mme. Ghellini Balbi, are held up in a
cruel satire to the public scorn. Do not let my name transpire; but take
means to prevent this scandal; the comedy will be represented in five
days from now." I was far from disbelieving that what my friend said was
the truth; yet I took care to let no sign of my belief escape me. I
thanked him for the friendly interest which had prompted him to warn me,
but laughed the matter off as something beyond the range of possibility.
He strained every nerve to convince me, but got nothing for his pains
beyond smiles and ironical protestations of gratitude. I left him there
fuming with anger at my obstinate hilarity.
I kept guard over my tongue in the presence of my brothers and the lady,
and made a show of great anxiety to see the new play produced upon the
boards. At last the first night came, and we all provided ourselves with
a convenient box for the occasion. We were disappointed to find the
theatre ill-attended, and to notice that the comedy dragged. _Esop at
the Court_ had caught the public by something piquant in its chief
character, by his grotesque, crook-backed figure, and by the appropriate
fables which had been written with real dramatic skill for the part.
_Esop in the Town_ was no less worthy of attention, but the novelty had
evaporated; it seemed a plagiarism of the former piece, and wearied the
audience like a composition which has lost its salt. At length the
interpolated scene, of which my friend had warned me, came on.[142]
An ancient dame, attired in black, made her entrance, and unfolded the
tale of her self-styled calamities to Esop. Pouring forth an
interminable catalogue of woes, she enumerated all the lies which had
been circulated against myself and Mme. Balbi at the period of our
family dissensions. The ancient dame summed up by saying that she had
been turned out of house and home, together with a loving son, three
daughters, a daughter-in-law, and five grandchildren, by three of her
own male children, the barbarous perverted offspring of her womb. Then
she appealed with tears for counsel and advice to Esop, who expressed
his sympathy in a frigidly elaborated fable. The ancient dame, attired
in black, was an exact image of our poor mother, who had been blinded by
a touch of spite against me and by the mud-honey of her favouritism into
allowing herself to be exposed in this way on a public stage for the
mirth of the populace.
The scene was very long; it had nothing to do with the action of the
piece, having been foisted in to gratify a private animosity. The
audience, ignorant of what it meant, began to yawn; and it contributed
in no small measure to the failure of the play.
While this indecent and malignant episode was dragging its slow length
along, I saw Mme. Ghellini Balbi becoming momently more taciturn and out
of humour, my two brothers flaming into anger and preparing for some act
of violence. The shouts of laughter with which I greeted this abortion
of a satire added fuel to their fire, and Francesco, spurred by martial
ardour, was on the point of defying the players. He only made me laugh
the louder; but I had some difficulty in persuading my companions to
quench their indignation in a cup of water, and to wrap themselves
around with imperturbable indifference. They obeyed me. If we had made a
disturbance, we should have put the cap on our own heads. As it was, our
cold behaviour snuffed out the whole episode, without awaking anybody's
interest. And such will, peradventure, be the fate of these Memoirs I am
writing of my life.
In after days I was glad to have laughed at this indecent exhibition.
The perusal of an anecdote in Ælian confirmed my self-congratulation. It
was to the following effect. "When," says he, "a firm courageous spirit
is attacked before the public in quizzical caricatures and gibing
insults, these trifles vanish like mist before the wind; but if they
meet with a nature which is base and proud and abject all at one and the
same time, they fill it with melancholy and madness, which often lead it
to the grave.[143] Take the proof of these remarks. Socrates, when he
was ridiculed upon the public stage by Aristophanes, enjoyed the fun and
laughed at it. Poliagros, under the same circumstances, went mad and
hanged himself."
In concluding this episode, which I leave my readers to characterise
with stronger epithets than I shall use, I wish to affirm that I never
have believed, or can believe, that my brother Gasparo lent his pen or
his assent to the production of the scene in question.
XXIX.
_A disagreeable action at law brought against me._
While busily engaged in prosecuting my many lawsuits, I was unpleasantly
surprised by the revival of my sister-in-law's old claim for
reimbursement of monies expended by her in the management of our affairs
during my father's lifetime.[144] This preposterous claim had long been
lying dormant, and the better terms on which we were gradually coming to
live together made me forget it as a chimera of the past.
My brother Gasparo's direction of the theatre of which he was the sole
lessee bore such fruits as every one predicted. Instead of the pecuniary
profits he had been encouraged to expect, the poor fellow was worried
with vexatious and aggressive opposition, peculiarly trying to one of
his gifts and temperament, but only too usual in enterprises of this
kind.
Wounded pride and thirst for vengeance, together with the hideous
necessity of meeting debts contracted in this unsuccessful speculation,
were the causes which roused his wife to bring her alleged claims upon
the family into a law-court. The defendants in this suit were myself and
my two brothers Francesco and Almorò. It will be remembered that she had
induced us to sign her cabalistic book of magic numbers with the sole
object of freeing her from any possible pretensions upon our side. My
elder brother, who had been the first to sign, in order to give a good
example to his juniors, was not prosecuted by his wife.
Our legal advisers maintained, with some show of reason, that Gasparo
was the real mover in this matter. For my part, knowing as I did his
peaceful character, I felt certain, that though he was capable of
countenancing irregularities through indolence and the desire to live a
quiet life, he was incapable of stirring up litigious strife on such
foundations. I was not ignorant that he had stooped to the theatrical
speculation in order merely to escape from a vortex of domestic
intrigues. I knew, moreover, that, after the partition of our patrimony,
his wife and family had changed their residence at least six times,
through restlessness, without informing him; so that he had gone to
knock at empty house-doors, and had casually learned from neighbours in
what quarter of the town his flighty brood had nested last. It also
reached my ears that his wife was selling property upon his life, and
that he had finally been driven by the tempest of his home to take a
distant lodging of two rooms,[145] where he installed himself with his
little heap of books and abandoned himself to study, seeking the peace
he could not find. After all, the father of a family who flies domestic
cares, only brings upon himself more carping cares than those which he
has fled from. All these considerations put together enabled me to
convince my counsel that Gasparo had no share in the proceedings of his
wife.
In the pleadings which set forth my sister-in-law's cause, Signor Guseò,
already named by me above, deposed on obviously false oath that he had
been commissioned by us three brothers to examine her accounts, and that
he had found her claim for reimbursement in the sum demanded to be just.
To cut a long story short, our arguments upon the other side were
useless. It was in vain that we expounded the inability of a woman who
had entered our family without dowry, and had got the management of
affairs into her hands through the indolence of its real head, to
constitute herself its creditor; in vain that we denounced the collusion
of one brother with his wife against the interests of three innocent
brothers, who had been absent many years without burdening the estate;
in vain that we showed how the father and the mother of the plaintiff
had been received into our house and maintained for full fifteen years
until their death, and how her relatives had been more the masters there
than its legitimate owners; in vain that we brought forward the chaotic
account-book, signed by us in compliance with our elder brother for the
sole sake of calming troubled tempers; in vain that we pointed out
figures, garbled, cancelled, altered in these precious documents; in
vain that we offered to discharge sums due to creditors for money or
goods rendered to the plaintiff in her administration of the family
affairs. All these solid pleas were like words thrown to the winds
before the impudence of two scoundrelly pettifoggers, the very scum of
the Venetian law-courts, who managed to convince our sapient judges that
men ought to open their eyes wide before they signed papers. From that
moment until now, I have always read my letters through ten times before
appending my signature.
As usual, I consoled myself by laughing over the inevitable. Nor did I
dream of complaining to Francesco, who had drawn me into the affair by
his desire to settle matters. He, good fellow, met my laughter with a
sorry countenance, protesting that he could never have anticipated such
an abominable trick of fortune.
Seven hundred ducats were passed to my sister-in-law's credit on the
termination of this suit. They did my brother's family no good. Debts to
comedians had eaten up the capital beforehand; and I was obliged to pay
a set of hungry fellows with the consent of him and his wife. The
annoyance, however, did not stop here. In order to bolster up her claim,
my sister-in-law had raked together a multitude of soi-disant creditors,
who pretended to have supplied money or goods to our family; and
declarations signed by them, recognising her as their sole debtor, were
put into court as evidence. When they found their expectations
frustrated, the wasp's nest swarmed out against us three brothers, and
sequestrated our house-property for payment of their alleged debts.
Before I succeeded in finally shaking them off, I had to transact much
tiresome business and to fight several lawsuits.
XXX.
_A long and serious illness.--My recovery.--The doctors
differ.--One of my sisters takes the veil.--Beginnings of literary
squabbles, and other trifles._
In the midst of these annoyances, I found the time and strength to
pursue my literary studies, especially in the now neglected art of
poetry, and enjoyed excellent health; when suddenly, one night, a
violent hemorrhage from the lungs warned me that the life of mortals
hangs upon the frailest thread.
Bleeding, vegetable diet, and a frugality in food, which few, I think,
are capable of continuing for as long a space of time as I can,
together with my philosophical indifference to death, restored me to
something like a tolerable state of health.
It seemed to me at this period that my two brothers and I, who always
kept together, were in a position to settle down again into our paternal
home. Mme. Ghellini Balbi, who had rented the house for more than five
years, politely retired at my request, and found another habitation at
S. Agostino. I furnished our ancestral nest as decently as I was able;
and we were soon installed there. It was then that I invited my youngest
sister to leave her convent and join us, travelling myself to Pordenone
for this purpose.
Whether through weakness, or human influence, or Divine inspiration, I
know not; but I found the good girl obstinate against my prayers, my
anger, and my threats. She entreated with a holy stubbornness to be left
in prison, to be indulged in her desire to pass her lifetime in that
blessed aviary of virgins. I commanded her to come home for at least
three or four months. At the end of that time, if she still persisted in
her pious fanaticism, I promised to play the part of executioner at her
request. She replied with a serious enthusiasm, which made me laugh,
that she knew enough of the world to be experienced in its wickedness;
and when I insisted, she met me with rather less than heavenly
doggedness by remarking that nothing short of cutting her in pieces
would make her quit the convent-gratings. Though I did not believe that
this ultimatum was dictated by the angels, I bent my head in order to
avoid a scandal. On taking the veil, she received those appointments and
allowances which are usually bestowed upon the brides of Christ.
Were I to fix my thoughts upon the troubles which my four married
sisters have had to suffer and still suffer--and I am only too well
informed about them--I should be obliged to admit that the youngest
chose the better part in life. They were always in straits, always
weeping, with their gentle natures and their illimitable powers of
endurance. One of them died before my eyes, to my deep sorrow, only
because she was a wife. Meanwhile, the nun, beloved by her sisters,
placidly smiled at things which we, refined in pleasures, finding
nowhere solid pleasure for our satisfaction, would call barbarous
tortures, and took delight in little treats, which we philosophers,
past-masters in the arts of greed, are wont to scorn and turn our backs
upon. In due course she attained the highest rank of Abbess in her
convent; and I believe she was more gratified with this honour than
Louis XVI. with his titles of King of France and of Navarre.[146]
Time had at length allayed the discords of our family. My two remaining
sisters found husbands. My brother Gasparo obtained a post at the
University of Padua, which brought him six hundred ducats a year,
besides pecuniary gratifications for extraordinary services.[147] This
proves that literature is not wholly unremunerated in Venice. In
addition to these emoluments, he found another way, legitimate indeed,
but one which seems incredible, for accumulating the sequins so much
needed after his theatrical disaster. There was not a marriage, a taking
of the veil among our noble families, an election of a Doge, or
procurator, or grand chancellor, without my brother being engaged to
produce the panegyrics or poems which are usual on such occasions--more
sought perhaps by fashion than by studious readers. The patricians made
it their custom to reward him with a hundred sequins, which contributed
to the splendour of their families, but did him little good, for in his
hands money found wings and flew away.
These details have little to do with my Memoirs; yet they are honourable
to my nation, and are not without a certain bearing on my subject.
Poetical trifles, published by me in collections, found favour by some
aspect of novelty and by genial satire on contemporary fashions.
Unluckily, they got me the reputation of a good poet and good writer.
Accordingly, many of our lords tried to press me into the ranks of the
_Raccoglitori_--collectors and compilers of occasional verse-books.
They did not know that I had adopted for my motto that line of Berni:--
"Voleva far da se, non comandato."
"His master he would be, and no man's man."
Whenever they did me the honour to force this function on me, I civilly
declined, and sent their messengers on to my brother, without, however,
refusing compositions of my own, which swelled the collections, to their
gain or loss as chance might have it.
I never abandoned the scheme I had formed of moving at law against the
Marchese Terzi of Bergamo in a suit for the recovery of lands and rights
belonging to us.[148] But while I was engaged on the preliminary
business, a fresh attack of pulmonary hemorrhage cooled my ardour. Many
learned physicians whom I consulted, looked upon me as a victim of
consumption, at the point of death. Beggars in the street, when they saw
me pass, promised to pray for my life if I would fling them a copper.
The cleverest professors of medicine at Padua prescribed ass's milk,
which was tantamount to saying: "Phthisical creature, go and make your
peace with Heaven!" My own doctor in ordinary, Arcadio Cappello by name,
now dead--an old man, experienced, well acquainted with my
constitution, and a philosopher to boot--forbade me milk as though it
had been poison. "You," he said, "are suffering from a nasty malady. Yet
it has not the origin, nor has it made the progress, which these eminent
physicians fancy. If you let your illness prey upon your mind, you will
die. If you have the strength and heart to throw aside all thoughts
about it, you will recover. It has in you no other basis than a
hypochondriacal habit, which you have contracted by a sedentary life of
worry, business, and excessive study. Raw milk of any kind is a pure
poison in your case. Live regularly, cast aside reflections on your
symptoms, take horse-exercise two or three hours a day. These are your
best medicines."
Marchese Terzi owes no thanks to my malady. Bloodless as I was, through
what I lost by hemorrhage and venesection, my intellect enjoyed the
highest qualities of penetration and acumen. Stretched out upon my bed,
I had the necessary papers for my lawsuit brought to me--abstracts and
wills recovered from the pork-butcher--a whole paraphernalia of
documents forbidden by my doctors--and set up a scheme of proofs and
arguments, so clear and so convincing that they subsequently drove my
enemy to desperate measures.
These annoying relapses of my malady continued for two years and a half
to fall upon me when I least expected them. They were enough to
dishearten any man less stupid than myself, and make him despair of
living. Contrary to the advice of several physicians, who protested with
wide-open horror-stricken eyes that riding would inflame my blood and
burst the arteries of my lungs, I followed the prescription of Doctor
Arcadio Cappello, half-suffocated as I was with hemorrhage. He proved to
be right. Regular diet, contempt for my symptoms, and horse-exercise
completed my cure. It is now twenty years and more since I have been
reminded that I was ever subject to this indisposition.
As I have often had occasion to remark, no business, no quarrels, no
lawsuits, and no illnesses prevented me from devoting some hours every
day to poetry. This being the case, when controversies arose in Venice
on philology and the higher Italian literature--controversies of which I
mean to render some account in the following chapters--I went on
vomiting blood from my veins, and scribbling sonnets, satires, essays in
defence of our great writers, treatises on style, polemics against
Chiari and Goldoni and their followers. All these trifles, when I read
them aloud, made my friends laugh, as well as my doctor and the surgeon
who attended on me.
Before engaging in the circumstances which led to my becoming a writer
for the theatre, I will wind up the history of our private affairs.
First of all, I let the lawsuit with Marchese Terzi drop. My reasons
were as follows:--With the best intentions in the world, and the
strongest desire to reunite the scattered members of our family under
one roof, I found this task impossible. My sisters married. My brothers
Francesco and Almorò in course of time took wives and begat children. My
mother's inheritance of the Tiepolo property (though strictly speaking
it ought to have been treated as entailed upon her sons) ran to waste in
the hands of Gasparo and his wife. I had the old debts of our estate
still weighing on my shoulders. It seemed to me, in this condition of
affairs, best to remain a bachelor, and to devote myself to the duties I
had undertaken, without ambitious projects and without assuming heavier
obligations. Freed from further responsibilities to my family, whom I
had loyally served in their material interests, and against none of whom
I harboured any rancour, I was master of my time and could devote myself
to the literary exercises which were so congenial to my temper.
END OF VOL. I.
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
INDEX.
This index appears at the end of Volume 2, but is shown here for the
convenience of the reader. {note of etext transcriber}
Academy de' Granelleschi, at Venice, i. 89, 99.
Actors, Italian, their character, ii. 137.
Actresses, Italian, their character, ii. 137.
Agazi, Francesco, Censor of Plays, ii. 264, 268.
Albergati, Marchese Francesco, ii. 240;
notes on his career, ii. 240 _note_ 1.
Altissimo, Cristoforo, poet and _improvisatore_, i. 202.
"Amore delle Tre Melarancie," Gozzi's first _Fiaba_, i. 109; ii. 129, 133.
translation of, i. 112-146.
its triumphant success, i. 146, 147; ii. 130.
his best Fable, artistically, i. 163.
Andreini, Francesco, a celebrated actor, i. 51.
Andrich, Carlo, ii. 76.
Angaran, Zorzi, Avogadore, i. 13.
Angarano, Count Galeaso, i. 341.
Apergi, Lieutenant Giovanni, i. 227; ii. 16.
Aretino, Pietro, i. 29.
Arlecchino, i. 35,
description of, in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 46.
"Augellino Belverde," one of Gozzi's "Fiabe," analysis of, i. 164-176.
Bada, Gianbattista, i. 100 _note_ 2.
Balbi, Benedetto, Canon of Padua, i. 349-352.
Balbi, Countess Elisabetta Ghellini, _see_ Ghellini Balbi, Countess.
Balbi, Paolo, i. 349-352; ii. 89, 295.
his sudden death, ii. 326.
Balestra, Antonio, painter, ii. 342.
Baretti, Giuseppe, his opinion of Gozzi, i. 179.
Barsanti, Domenico, actor, ii. 216, 323.
Bartoli, Adolfo, his "Scenari Inediti," i. 57.
Bartoli, Francesco, husband of Teodora Ricci, ii. 195 _note_ 1, 249-252.
his ill-health and separation from his wife, ii. 199.
Battagia, Maddalena, actress, ii. 174.
Benedetti, Luigi, actor, ii. 209, 269, 288, 323.
Beolco, Angelo, a Paduan writer of simple rustic comedies, i. 33.
Bergalli, Luisa Pisana, wife of Gasparo Gozzi, _see_ Gozzi, Luisa Pisana.
Bettinelli, Abbé Xavier, his attempted revolution in literary taste, ii. 104.
shown up by the Granelleschi, ii. 105.
Bevilacqua, Doctor Bartolommeo, ii. 314.
Boldù, Jacopo, Provveditore Generale di Dalmazia, i. 276.
Borrommeo, Carlo, his crusade against the Comedians, i. 70.
Bragadino, Cavaliere, the curious occurrence that earned
Gozzi his friendship, ii. 80-84.
Brescia, Bishop of, i. 277.
Brighella, i. 35; description of, in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 47.
as employed by Gozzi, i. 152.
Burchiello, an obscure Florentine poet, ii. 116.
Calogerà, Padre, ii. 117.
Canale, or Canaletti, Antonio, ii. 338.
his defects, ii. 338.
Canziani, Maria, dancer, ii. 75.
Capitano, the, a character in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 35, 50.
Capocomico, manager of the Comedians, his functions, i. 58-60, 64.
Cappello, Arcadio, physician, i. 368.
Casali, Gaetano, comedian, i. 112 _note_ 1.
Casanova, Ignazio, comedian, i. 112 _note_ 1.
Casanova, Jacques, i. 4, 73, 350 _note_ 1; ii. 99 _note_ 1.
Cavalli, Jacopo, Provveditore Generale di Dalmazia, i. 220.
Cecchi, playwright, i. 33.
Cenet, Madame Jeanne Sarah, ii. 310.
Cerlone, Francesco, poet, i. 35 _note_ 3.
fixed the type of Pulcinella, i. 49.
Chasles, Philarete, i. 181.
Chaussée, Nivelle de la, his sentimental comedies, i. 87.
Chiari, Abbé Pietro, playwright, i. 2.
his rivalry with Goldoni, i. 97.
Gozzi's attacks on, i. 99.
makes common cause with Goldoni against Gozzi, i. 106, ii. 127.
various satirical allusions to him in Gozzi's first "Fable," i. 112-146.
his popularity in Venice, ii. 110.
Gozzi's opinion of, ii. 113, 114.
defeated by Gozzi, gives up play-writing, i. 177, ii. 155, 156.
Cicucci, Regina, actress, ii. 170.
Colombani, Paolo, bookseller, his shop the headquarters
of the Granelleschi, ii. 127.
Colombo, Giovanni, i. 229.
Grand Chancellor of the Venetian Republic, i. 230.
Comedian, qualifications of a good Italian, i. 61.
Comedians, their degraded social position, i. 70.
Comedy, Italian--
Its origin during the Renaissance, i. 26.
its dependence on Latin models, i. 26, 28.
the _Commedia Erudita_, i. 27, 39.
the first attempts at National Italian comedy, i. 28.
its stock characters, i. 28.
_Commedia dell'Arte all'Improviso_, its causes, and its
distinctive features, i. 30-32.
its great antiquity, i. 32.
its relation to the _Commedia Erudita_, i. 32, 55.
farces in relation to the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 33.
the _Commedia dell'Arte_ trusted to the improvisatory
talent of the actors, i. 34.
the actors in it wore masks, i. 34.
the principal masks--Pantalone, Il Dottore, Arlecchino, Brighella, i. 34.
description of the masks, i. 43-54.
the less important masks, i. 52.
relation of the _Commedia dell'Arte_ to the old Latin comedy
of mimes and _exodia_, i. 36-40.
Lombard, Neapolitan, and Florentine ingredients in it, i. 40.
its culmination and decay, i. 43.
modifications introduced into the fixed characters of the _Commedia
dell'Arte_
by celebrated actors, i. 53.
the plots and subjects of improvised comedies, i. 54.
its indecency and buffoonery, i. 56.
description of the _scenari_ of the comedies, i. 56.
how they were arranged or rehearsed, i. 58.
qualifications of the actors, i. 61.
stock speeches, which were not left to the inspiration of the comedians,
but were written, i. 62.
_lazzi_ (sallies of buffoonery), i. 63.
its tendency to degenerate, i. 64, 69.
the widespread popularity of the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 65.
its success in Paris, Spain, Portugal, and London, i. 65, 67.
probably the model on which Tarleton and Wilson formed their Drolls, i. 68.
Gozzi's praise of it, i. 68.
its decadence, i. 69, 87.
the degraded social position of the actors, i. 70.
Garzoni's description of the strolling comedians, i. 73-80.
superseded by the _Comédie Larmoyante_, i. 87.
Gozzi's "Fiabe Teatrali," an attempt to rehabilitate the impromptu
comedy, i. 109.
translation of Gozzi's first "Fiaba," i. 112-146.
character of the actors in Italian Comedy, ii. 137.
_Commedia dell'Arte._ _See_ Comedy, Italian.
Comparetti, Doctor Andrea, ii. 300.
Contarini, Francesco, Gratarol's uncle, ii. 292, 293.
Coralli, actor, ii. 201, 208, 214, 216.
Cornaro, Giorgio, physician, ii. 327.
Cortigiani, the Venetian, or Men of the World, i. 294 _note_ 1.
Coviello, a mask in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 50.
Crespi, Giuseppe Maria, ii. 342.
Dalmatia, the character of the natives of, i. 238.
the women of, i. 242.
the nature of the country, i. 243.
Danieli, chief physician to the Provveditore di Dalmazia, i. 222.
Da Ponte, Lorenzo, i. 4.
Darbes, Cesare, comedian, i. 95, 112 _note_ 1; ii. 131, 169.
Della Bona, Professor, ii. 310.
his skilful treatment of Gasparo Gozzi's illness, ii. 316.
Despériers, Bonaventura, ii. 7 _note_ 1.
Dialects, different, spoken in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 35.
Dolfin-Tron, Caterina, i. 11; ii. 264, 287, 312, 319.
her character and influence, i. 9.
her enmity towards Gratarol, i. 9.
ruins Gratarol, i. 12, 13.
Gratarol's "Narrazione" bitterly attacks her, i. 13.
Gozzi's relations with, ii. 266 _note_ 1.
Gozzi intercedes with her to have "Le Droghe d'Amore" stopped, ii. 288.
her refusal, ii. 290.
Gozzi shows her how he has been insulted by Gratarol, ii. 208.
her interest in Gasparo Gozzi, ii. 308.
_Doti_--stock passages in the _Commedia dell'Arte_ which were not left to
improvisation, i. 62; ii. 144.
Dottore, the, a character in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 34.
description of, i. 45.
"Droghe d'Amore, Le," Gozzi's comedy which caused the quarrel between
Gratarol and Gozzi, i. 10; ii. 225, 252, 258.
licensed for the stage, ii. 259.
the cast changed by the actors in order to attack Gratarol, ii. 260, 269.
read to the actors, ii. 260.
Gratarol's foolish conduct forces the piece on the stage, and
makes all Venice talk of it, ii. 263.
its production, ii. 270.
the excitement it causes, ii. 274.
Gratarol's distress at its success, ii. 277.
Gozzi's efforts to have it stopped, ii. 286-294.
Drousiano, an Italian comedian in London in 1577-8, i. 67.
"Esop in the Town," a play in which Gozzi and the Countess
Balbi were attacked, i. 356.
Farces, popular during the Renaissance, i. 33.
Farsetti, Daniele, Gozzi dedicates his "Tartana degl'influssi" to, ii. 116.
Farsetti, Giuseppe, ii. 124.
"Fiabe Teatrali," Gozzi's celebrated plays, i. 107; ii. 129-137.
an endeavour to rehabilitate the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 109.
success of his first Fable, i. 146, 147.
list of the remaining nine Fables, i. 148.
critical account of, i. 148-176.
the sources of, i. 162.
their success but ephemeral, i. 178.
Fiorelli, Agostino, comedian, i. 112 _note_ 1; ii. 131, 169, 323.
Fiorelli, Tiberio of Naples, the famous Scaramouch, i. 51, 53.
his wonderful acting described, i. 66.
Florentine burlesque poets, Gozzi's true ancestors in art, i. 110.
Florentine ingredients in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 40.
Foscarini, Marco, Doge of Venice, i. 337.
Galante, avvocato fiscale dell'Avogaderia, i. 13.
Garzoni, his description of the strolling comedians,
in his "Piazza Universale," i. 73-80.
_Generici_--or common-places--in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 62.
Ghellini Balbi, Countess Elisabetta, i. 324, 338, 342, 355, 365.
her interest in the Gozzi family, i. 324.
Gozzi calls upon her, i. 325.
Gozzi reported to be married to her, i. 339, 349.
her anxieties about her son, i. 349-352.
attacked in a play called "Esop in the Town," i. 356.
Gherardi, his "Theatre Italien," i. 61, 66.
Goethe, his estimate of Goldoni and Gozzi, i. 178.
Goldoni, Carlo, dramatist, i. 2, 4, 87.
his severe condemnation of the Italian Comedy, i. 72.
his undoubted genius, i. 89.
his excellent character, i. 89.
his qualities and defects, i. 89-91.
sketch of his career, i. 92.
his desire to reform Italian Comedy, i. 93.
the steps which he took in that direction, i. 93-95.
joins the company of Medebac, i. 95.
his first comedy of character, as opposed to impromptu comedy, i. 95.
the fortunes of his crusade against the _Commedia
dell'Arte_, i. 95; ii. 128.
his contest with Chiari, i. 97.
Gozzi's hatred for him as a corrupter of the language, i. 99.
Gozzi's first attack on him, i. 99; ii. 116.
his reply to Gozzi, i. 101; ii. 117.
the long-continued warfare between him and Gozzi, i. 102; ii. 119-128
Chiari makes common cause with him against Gozzi, i. 106; ii. 127.
various satirical allusions to him in Gozzi's first "Fable," i. 112-146.
defeated by Gozzi, goes to Paris, i. 177; ii. 155, 156.
his ultimate success and fame, i. 178.
his popularity in Venice, ii. 110.
Gozzi's opinion of him, ii. 111-113.
his superiority over Chiari, ii. 114.
the various publications in which Gozzi attacked him, ii. 119-128.
himself writes a "Fable," ii. 150.
his similarity in art with Longhi the painter, ii. 350.
Gozzi family, i. 185;
_Cittadini Originari_ of Venice, i. 186.
Gozzi, Almorò, younger brother of Carlo, i. 290, 320, 329, 330,
331, 354; ii. 79, 162, 336.
Gozzi, Angela Tiepolo, mother of Carlo, i. 189, 285, 304.
her maladministration of the family affairs, i. 297.
her quarrels with Carlo Gozzi, i. 304.
her dislike for Carlo, i. 348.
Gozzi, Carlo--
his autobiography, entitled "Memorie inutili della vita di
Carlo Gozzi." i. 1.
design of his autobiography, i. 3, 19;
its value historically, i. 4.
his "Droghe d'Amore" supposed to contain a caricature of Gratarol. i. 10.
attacked by Gratarol in his "Narrazione Apologetica, i. 14.
writes a reply--"Epistola Confutatoria," i. 14;
but is not allowed to publish it, i. 15.
publishes his memoir and, under provocation, the "Epistola Confutatoria,"
after the fall of the Venetian republic, i. 16-19.
his autobiography, its form, its merits and defects, and its
reliability, i. 19-24.
his personal characteristics, i. 22.
his "Fiabe," i. 43.
his eulogy of the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 68.
his description of the contest between Goldoni and Chiari, i. 98.
translation of his first Fable, i. 112-146.
its triumphant success, i. 146, 147.
his other "Fiabe," i. 148.
critical account of his "Fiabe Teatrali, i. 148-176.
his use of the Masks, i. 149-154.
his mixture of the comic element with the fairy-tale, i. 154.
not a great imaginative poet, i. 156.
his merits as a playwright, i. 157-160.
his conservative philosophy of life, i. 160.
the sources of his "Fiabe," i. 162.
analysis of "L'Augellino Belverde," i. 164-176.
his victory over Goldoni and Chiari, i. 176.
his fame ephemeral, i. 178.
German translation of his plays, i. 180.
his pedigree, i. 2, 185-190.
his birth, i. 190 _note_ 1.
the exact trustworthiness of his Memoirs, i. 190 _note_ 1.[I?]
his brothers and sisters, i. 191.
his education, i. 192.
injures his health by study, i. 196.
his endeavours after a good literary style, i. 197.
his moral and physical training, i. 200, 205.
his acting as a child, i. 201.
shows skill as an _improvisatore_, i. 202.
his first poetical productions, i. 205-207.
his early productions, i. 208.
the family difficulties, i. 209.
the discomforts of his home, i. 212.
he leaves home and becomes a soldier, i. 213.
his first experiences as a soldier, i. 214-221.
has a dangerous illness, i. 221.
studies Fortification, i. 225.
his love of poetry, i. 229.
his sonnet in praise of Provveditore Quirini, i. 233.
an exciting adventure with a horse, i. 234.
he is enrolled as a _Cadet noble_ of cavalry, i. 246.
what his military services amounted to, i. 247.
his success as a _soubrette_ in the military theatricals at Zara,
i. 249-251.
some of his escapades as a youth, i. 252-273.
the adventures in connection with the courtesan Tonina, i. 262-272.
his finances at the close of his military service, i. 273.
returns to Venice, i. 278.
the state of his family and home, when he returns, i. 279.
his first meeting with his family, i. 284.
his difficulty in interfering in the management of the family
affairs, i. 290.
his negotiations with Francesco Zini, i. 300.
becomes the object of hatred to all his family, i. 307, 318.
in continual quarrels with his family, i. 322.
his interview with the Countess Ghellini Balbi, i. 325.
his family set the law in motion against him, i. 328.
he leaves home, i. 330.
lies spread about him, i. 331.
the family property divided, i. 332.
is dragged into tedious lawsuits, i. 334-342.
his friendship with the Countess Ghellini Balbi, i. 339, 349.
his sister-in-law's vexatious lawsuit against him, i. 360-364.
has violent hæmorrhage from the lungs, i. 364, 368.
his illnesses and occupations, i. 370.
his account of his own physical and mental qualities, ii. 1-9.
accepted no payment for any of his works, ii. 3.
his love-tales--
his first love, ii. 11-27;
his second love, ii. 28-33;
his third love, ii. 33-69.
his reflections on his love affairs, ii. 69.
his object in relating them, ii. 72 _note_ 1.
the absurdities and contrarieties to which his star made him
subject, ii. 73-89.
his unfortunate experience as a landlord, ii. 85-89.
the origin and progress of his literary quarrels, i. 2; ii. 90.
his views upon Italian literature, ii. 91.
his dissertation on Prejudice, ii. 99.
his humorous attack on Bettinelli, ii. 106.
the motives of his attacks upon Chiari and Goldoni, ii. 115.
his first attack on Goldoni and Chiari in his "Tartana degli Influssi,"
i. 100, 109; ii. 116.
Goldoni's reply, i. 101, 109; ii. 117.
his Aristophanic satire upon Goldoni, entitled "Il Teatro Comico,"
i. 104, 109; ii. 120.
he withdraws this satire at Goldoni's request, i. 106; ii. 124.
the origin of his celebrated "Fiabe Teatrali," i. 107; ii. 128.
his first Fable, "The Love of the Three Oranges (L'Amore delle Tre
Melarancie)," i. 109; ii. 129.
the various publications in which he carried on the war against Goldoni
and Chiari, ii. 119-128.
his relations with Sacchi's company of comedians, ii. 137-155.
his tuition of the actresses, ii. 145.
his lawsuit against the Marchese Terzi, ii. 160.
its successful issue, ii. 164.
he withdraws his aid temporarily from Sacchi's company, ii. 166.
comes to their assistance again, ii. 168.
undertakes to tutor Teodora Ricci, ii. 177.
the successful result of his tuition, ii. 185.
his defence of his character and conduct in connection with Teodora Ricci,
and the actresses of Sacchi's company, ii. 187, 192 _note_ 1.
becomes Cicisbeo to Ricci, i. 9; ii. 193.
is godfather to her child, ii. 198.
his troublous relations with the Ricci, ii. 200.
his excuse for submitting to the worries caused by the Ricci, ii. 218.
his adaptations of Spanish plays, ii. 225.
his "Droghe d'Amore," i. 10; ii. 225.
his and Gratarol's versions of the quarrel between them, ii. 229 _note_ 1.
Gratarol's first visit to him, ii. 238.
his final rupture with Ricci, ii. 246.
annoyed by her, ii. 249, 255.
annoyed by her husband, ii. 250.
completes his comedy "Le Droghe d'Amore," ii. 252.
is pestered into giving it to Sacchi, ii. 258.
his innocence of an intention to caricature Gratarol in "Le Droghe d'Amor,"
ii. 258.
reads the piece to the actors, ii. 260.
tries to have it withdrawn, ii. 263.
his friendship with Madame Dolfin Tron, ii. 266 _note_ 1.
forbidden by the Censor to withdraw his play, ii. 268.
his distress at the play's vogue, ii. 274.
waited on by Carlo Maffei on behalf of Gratarol, ii. 277.
interview between him and Gratarol, ii. 279-285.
his futile efforts to have the play stopped, ii. 286-294.
his further squabbles with Gratarol, ii. 294.
his cause espoused by the Supreme Tribunal, which forces Gratarol to
apologise to him, ii. 303.
Gratarol's conduct to him subsequently, ii. 307.
goes to Padua, where his brother Gasparo lies dangerously ill, ii. 309.
uses his influence in Gratarol's behalf, ii. 319.
his reflection on Gratarol's flight, ii. 321.
his last interview with Sacchi, ii. 324.
his sorrow at the death of his friends, ii. 325.
has a bad attack of fever, ii. 327.
lays down his pen, ii. 330.
a review of his life and an estimate of his character, ii. 330.
his old age, ii. 332.
his will, ii. 333.
his death, ii. 337.
Gozzi, Chiara, sister of Carlo, i. 354.
becomes a nun, i. 365.
Gozzi, Francesco, brother of Carlo, i. 319, 320, 329, 354; ii. 79, 162.
becomes a soldier, i. 212.
his bad character, i. 321.
his death, ii. 326.
Gozzi, Gasparo, grandfather of Carlo, i. 189.
Gozzi, Gasparo, brother of Carlo, i. 282, 286, 288, 293, 312, 320, 329;
ii. 301, 319, 350.
his personal leaning towards Goldoni, i. 106.
undertakes to superintend a new edition of Goldoni's plays, i. 177.
his passion for study, i. 194.
his marriage, i. 209.
becomes lessee of the theatre of S. Angelo at Venice, i. 332.
his helpless position in his own house, i. 340.
his theatrical speculation is unsuccessful, i. 353, 360.
Carlo Gozzi and the Countess Balbi attacked on his stage, i. 357.
obtains a post at the University of Padua, i. 367.
his "Defence of Dante" against the Abbé Bettinelli, ii. 106.
his lack of spirit, ii. 162.
his friendship with Madame Dolfin Tron, ii. 267.
his serious illness, ii. 308.
in his delirium throws himself from a window, ii. 308.
his recovery, ii. 317.
his death, ii. 327.
Gozzi, Girolama, i. 288.
Gozzi, Giulia, i. 282.
Gozzi, Jacopo Antonio, father of Carlo, i. 188.
has a stroke of apoplexy, i. 211.
his feeble state of health, i. 284.
the unhappiness of his position amid the family quarrels, i. 309.
his death, i. 310.
Gozzi, Luisa Pisani Bergalli, wife of Gasparo, i. 210.
the ruler of the Gozzi family affairs, i. 287.
her mismanagement, i. 299, 317.
her dishonourable conduct, i. 319, 328.
tries to manage her husband's theatre, i. 332.
brings a lawsuit against Carlo, i. 360-364.
Gozzi, Marina, sister of Carlo, i. 201, 282.
Gradenigo, Cavaliere Andrea, ii. 76.
Grampo, Contessa Emilia, i. 189.
Granelleschi, Academy of the, i. 89, 99, 102.
its warfare with Goldoni and Chiara, i. 102.
the founding of the Academy, ii. 93.
its burlesque Prince, ii. 93.
its more serious objects, ii. 97, 108.
its attack on the Abbé Bettinelli, ii. 105.
its headquarters in the shop of the bookseller, Paolo Colombani, ii. 127.
Gratarol, Pier Antonio, i. 359 _note_ 1; ii. 10, 72 _note_ 1, 79, 227, 263.
his quarrel with Gozzi, i. 2, 6.
account of his life, i. 7-16.
nominated as Venetian Resident at Naples, i. 8.
his quarrel with Caterina Dolfin Tron, i. 9.
becomes lover to Teodora Ricci, i. 10; ii. 229.
his version of his quarrel with Gozzi compared with Gozzi's statement,
ii. 229 _note_ 1.
his presence behind the scenes of Sacchi's theatre, ii. 230, 233.
his entertainment to the actors and actresses, ii. 237.
his first visit to Gozzi, ii. 238.
Ricci compromised by him, ii. 242.
caricatured in "Le Droghe d'Amore," but not by Gozzi's wish,
i. 10; ii. 258, 259.
his foolish conduct forces the piece on the stage, ii. 263.
is present on its production and sees himself caricatured, ii. 272.
his distress, ii. 275 _note_ 1, 277.
his intrigues against Gozzi, ii. 278.
his interview with Gozzi, ii. 279-285.
Gozzi's efforts to have the play stopped, ii. 286-294.
the further squabbles between him and Gozzi, ii. 294-300.
forced by the Supreme Authority to apologise to Gozzi, ii. 303.
his own account of the letter which he was forced to write,
ii. 303 _note_ 1.
his conduct to Gozzi subsequently, ii. 307.
suspected of having the actor Vitalba assaulted, ii. 319.
his appointment to Naples cancelled, ii. 319, 320.
his withdrawal from Venice and consequent outlawry, i. 12; ii. 321.
his "Narrazione Apologetica" published at Stockholm, i. 13.
published at Venice after the fall of the Republic, i. 16.
his death, i. 16.
book entitled "Last Notices regarding Pietro Antonio Gratarol," i. 17.
Gozzi's reflections on his character, ii. 321.
Grazzini, Anton-Francesco, his Carnival song of the Zanni and
Magnifichi, i. 41.
Gritti, Francesco, ii. 76.
his play of _Gustavus Vasa_, ii. 184.
Guardi, Francesco, ii. 338.
the interest of his paintings historically, ii. 340.
Gusèo, Giovannantonio, a notary, i. 347, 362.
Hoffmann, E. T. W., his enthusiasm for Gozzi, i. 181.
Hogarth, William, contrasted with Pietro Longhi, ii. 350.
Illyria, the nature of the country, i. 244.
Improvisation, Gozzi's views on, i. 202.
I Rozzi, a company at Siena, who performed farces, i. 33.
Italian Comedy. _See_ Comedy, Italian.
Italian Literature, ii. 91.
Lami, Signor, ii. 117.
Laveleye, Emil de, ii. 99 _note_ 1.
Lazari, V., ii. 347 _note_ 1, 353 _note_ 1.
_Lazzi_--or humorous sallies--in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 63.
Lee, Vernon, i. 23, 182.
Lombard ingredients in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 40.
Longhi, Alessandro, son of Pietro, ii. 346, 357.
Longhi, Pietro, ii. 338-361.
the interest of his works, ii. 338 _note_ 1, 341, 347.
his parentage, ii. 342.
his early training, ii. 342.
his _Fall of the Giants_, ii. 343.
finds his true vocation as a painter in studies of contemporary
Venetian life, ii. 344.
the difference in his handiwork, ii. 346.
his similarity in art with Goldoni the dramatist, ii. 350.
the strong contrast between him and Hogarth, ii. 350.
his portrait, ii. 351.
filled the Chair of Painting in the Pisani Academy, ii. 353.
a picture representing the Pisani family attributed to him, ii. 354.
frescoes in the Palazzo Sina attributed to him, ii. 356.
his sketch-book, a collection of 140 drawings, ii. 357.
its great value, ii. 357.
description of its contents, ii. 358.
its merits and its limitations, ii. 358, 359.
summary of his work, ii. 360.
Loredano, Cavaliere Antonio, i. 212.
Machiavelli, Niccolò, i. 29.
Maffei, Carlo--
account of his character, ii. 276.
his intervention on Gratarol's behalf in the dispute regarding
the "Droghe d'Amore," ii. 277-285.
his sudden death, ii. 326, 327.
Manzoni, Caterina, actress, ii. 170.
her excellent qualities, ii. 192.
Marchiori, Cavaliere, Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers, i. 225.
Gozzi studies Fortification under, i. 225.
his death, i. 228.
Marsili, Professor Giovanni, ii. 308.
Martelli, Pier Jacopo, i. 97 _note_ 1.
Martellian verses, i. 97 _note_ 1.
Masi, Ernesto, i. 99 _note_ 1.
Masks, the, as employed by Gozzi, i. 149.
Massimo, Innocenzio, i. 226, 227, 278, 326; ii. 28, 162, 310.
his friendship with Gozzi, i. 223, 283.
his character, i. 224.
a foolish adventure, i. 254-260.
his generous kindness to Gozzi, i. 312.
his sudden death, ii. 327.
Medebac (master of a company of comedians), engages Goldoni to
write for his company, i. 95.
Messer Grande, the Chief Constable of Venice, ii. 89 _note_ 1.
Micheli, Maggiore della Provincia, i. 218.
Montenegrins, the women of the, i. 241.
Morlacchi, a tribe of Dalmatians, i. 237 _note_ 1.
their barbarism, i. 237, 239.
Musset, Paul de, his travesty of Gozzi's real character, i. 23,
24 _note_ 1, 181, ii. 89 _note_ 2.
Neapolitan ingredients in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 40.
Pallone, the game of, i. 251 _note_ 1.
Pantalone, i. 34; description of, in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 43.
as employed by Gozzi, i. 152.
Paruta, the Patrician, Gozzi mistaken for, ii. 74.
Perrucci, Andrea, his description of the rehearsal of an
impromptu comedy, i. 58.
Pisani family, their Academy for the Study of the Art of Design, ii. 353.
Pozzobon, Giovanni, i. 100 _note_ 2.
Prata, Count Michele di, i. 282.
Prejudice, Gozzi's dissertation on, ii. 99.
Provveditore Generale di Dalmazia, the office of, i. 212 _note_ 1.
Provveditore Generale di Mare, the head of the Venetian
forces in the Levant, i. 212 _note_ 1.
Pulcinella, i. 35;
description of, i. 49.
Punch (Pulcinella), i. 50.
Quirini, Girolamo, Provveditore di Dalmazia, i. 213, 216, 247, 277, 278.
the town of Zara gives a grand public display in his honour, i. 230.
Gozzi presents a volume of his poems to him, i. 276.
Regina, the actress engaged by Sacchi to fill Ricci's place, ii. 254.
Renier, Paolo, ii. 301, 305.
his brilliant abilities, and his career, ii. 301 _note_ 1, 306 _note_ 1.
Reniero, Senator Daniele, i. 341.
Ricci, Marianna, sister of Teodora, ii. 242.
Ricci, Teodora, ii. 174, 324.
engaged as leading actress by Sacchi, ii. 174.
her personal appearance, ii. 175.
her connection with Gozzi, i. 9.
her connection with Gratarol, i. 10.
Gozzi's tuition of, ii. 177
the opposition to her, ii. 179.
her _début_ at Venice not very successful, ii. 182.
her success in "Gustavus Vasa," ii. 184.
her triumph in Gozzi's "Principessa Filosofa," ii. 185.
her gratitude to Gozzi, ii. 186.
her merits and defects, ii. 188-192.
Gozzi becomes her Cicisbeo, ii. 193.
Gozzi is godfather to her child, ii. 198.
her separation from her husband, ii. 199.
her _liaison_ with Sacchi, ii. 202-210.
her foolish conduct, ii. 216.
her rapacity, ii. 221.
her agreement for five years with Sacchi, ii. 221.
her friendship with P. A. Gratarol, ii. 227, 241, 245.
its consequences, ii. 242.
Gozzi's final rupture with her, ii. 246.
her annoyance of him, ii. 249, 255.
she leaves Sacchi's company and goes to Paris, ii. 254.
her strange manners when she returns, ii. 256.
her failure as an actress when she began to ape the French, ii. 257.
her conduct at the reading of "Le Droghe d'Amore," ii. 260.
her foolish conduct in connection with the play, ii. 269, 275.
pretends illness in order to stop the play, ii. 275.
is ordered to play by the authorities, ii. 276.
her tactics which led to the withdrawal of "Le Droghe d'Amore," ii. 306.
her death in a madhouse, ii. 195 _note_ 1.
Riccoboni, Luigi, i. 63.
"Riflessioni d'un Imparziale," a pamphlet in answer to Gratarol's
"Narrazione," i. 13 _note_ 2, 15 _note_ 1.
Rossi, Pietro, actor, ii. 189.
Royer, Paul, i. 182.
Ruskin, John, ii. 340.
Sacchi, Antonia, actress, i. 112 _note_ 1.
Sacchi, Antonio, i. 53, 100, 101, 112 _note_ 1, 150; ii. 201,
262, 272, 282 _note_ 1, 286, 297, 306, 318.
list of his company, i. 112 _note_ 1.
allusion to his company in Gozzi's first "Fable," i. 127.
the inventor of Truffaldino as a form of Arlecchino, ii. 131 _note_ 1.
his famous company, ii. 142.
ruined by the opposition of Chiari and Goldoni, ii. 132.
their visit to Lisbon, ii. 132.
their return to Venice, ii. 132.
their success with Gozzi's pieces, i. 176; ii. 132.
their gratitude to Gozzi, ii. 137.
Gozzi temporarily withdraws his aid from his company, ii. 166.
obtains a lease of the theatre S. Salvadore, ii. 167, 168.
his passion for the Ricci, ii. 202, 214.
his ill-treatment of her, ii. 207.
its result, ii. 208-210.
his theatre pronounced unsafe, ii. 219.
his five years' agreement with Ricci, ii. 221.
his difficulties with Gratarol, ii. 233.
Ricci leaves his company and he engages Regina in her place, ii. 254.
consents to withdraw the "Droghe d'Amore," ii. 263.
produces it, ii. 271.
the dissolution of his company, ii. 322.
his excesses and tempers, ii. 322.
his last interview with Gozzi, ii. 324.
his death, ii. 325 _note_ 1.
Sacchi-Zannoni, Adriana, actress, i. 112 _note_ 1; ii. 131.
Sacchi's company--
its respectability, ii. 143.
Gozzi's relations with the actors and actresses, ii. 137-155.
dissensions in, ii. 164.
the details of its dissolution, ii. 322-325.
Santorini, Count Francesco, i. 324, 327, 329.
Schlegel, A. W., his praise of Gozzi's "Fiabe," i. 180.
Sciugliaga, Stefano, Secretary of the University of Milan, ii. 198.
Sechellari, Giuseppe, Prince of the Accademia Granellesca, ii. 93.
the tricks played on him, ii. 95.
Seghezzi, Antonio Federigo, i. 199.
Servetta, the, a character in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 48, 154.
Sibiliato, Giovanni, a wonderful _improvisatore_ and a true poet, i. 204.
Smeraldina (Servetta), as employed by Gozzi, i. 154.
Somascan Order of Monks, i. 350 _note_ 1.
Stampa, Gaspara, poetess, i. 206.
Stock speeches in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 62.
Tartaglia, a mask in the _Commedia dell'Arte_, i. 35, 50.
as employed by Gozzi, i. 152.
Terzi, Marchese, of Bergamo, i. 368, 369, 370.
Gozzi's lawsuit against, ii. 160.
its successful issue, ii. 164.
Testa, Antonio, a famous lawyer, i. 335; ii. 163.
his kindness to Gozzi, i. 336.
Theatres, private, in the houses of the Venetian nobility, i. 201 _note_ 1.
Tiepolo family, i. 189 _note_ 1.
Tiepolo, Almorò Cesare, i. 213, 291, 342.
his just and excellent character, i. 344-347.
Tiepolo, G. B., painter, ii. 338.
a genius of the first order, ii. 339.
Tiepolo, Nicolò Maria, his condemnation of comedians, i. 71.
Tiepolo Gozzi, Angela, mother of Carlo Gozzi--_See_ Gozzi, Angela Tiepolo.
Toaldo, Professor, ii. 75.
Todeschini, Raffaelle, ii. 295, 326.
Tommassei, his contempt for Gozzi, i. 179.
Tonina, a courtesan of Zara, i. 262.
Gozzi's impromptu attack on, in the theatre, i. 269.
Tron, Andrea, Procuratore di San Marco, i. 9, 14; ii. 264 _note_ 1.
Tron, Caterina Dolfin, see Dolfin-Tron, Caterina.
Truffaldino, the mask, a modification of Arlecchino, i.
46, 150; ii. 131 _note_ 1.
as used by Gozzi, i. 153.
Vendramini, Antonio, proprietor of the theatre of S. Salvadore,
ii. 167, 173, 276, 286.
Venice--
its decadence, i. 7 _note_ 1.
its political and social state about the middle of the 18th century, i. 82.
conflict of liberalism and conservatism in literature and
the theatre, i. 86.
success of the _Comédie Larmoyante_, i. 87.
foundation of the Academy de' Granelleschi, i. 89.
the granting of citizenship in, i. 186 _note_ 1.
the position of the _Cittadini Originari_, i. 186 _note_ 1.
posts open to the _Cittadini_, i. 187 _note_ 3.
Gozzi's remarks on the degeneration of the Venetian youth, i. 194.
robes of the Dignitaries, i. 217 _note_ 1.
the office of Grand Chancellor, i. 230 _note_ 1.
the values of the sequin and lira, i. 274 _note_ 1.
_Decime_ (taxes), i. 280 _note_ 1.
its theatres, i. 332 _note_ 1; ii. 167.
its law of entail, i. 336 _note_ 1.
the _Avogadori del Comun_, i. 341 _note_ 1.
decay of literary taste in, ii. 108-110.
the length of the theatrical year, ii. 146 _note_ 1.
its decrepitude, as shown in State interference in Gratarol's
quarrel with Gozzi, ii. 303 _note_ 1.
the influence of the French Revolution on, ii. 328.
partial revival of art in, in the 18th century, ii. 338.
Longhi's paintings of contemporary life in, ii. 338 _note_ 1;
ii. 341, 347, 358.
Verdani, Abbé Giovan Antonio, i. 196.
Vilio, Count, of Desenzano, ii. 24.
Vinacesi, Elisabetta, actress, ii. 213.
Vincentini, Tommaso, his excellence as Harlequin, i. 67.
Vitalba, Giovanni, actor, ii. 269.
the actor who caricatured Gratarol in the "Droghe d'Amore," ii. 272.
assaulted by a ruffian in Milan, ii. 318.
Wagner, Richard, his "Fairies," a setting of Gozzi's "Donna Serpente,"
i. 160 _note_ 1, 181.
Werthes, Franz A. C., translator of Gozzi's "Fiabe" into German, i. 180.
Widiman, Count Ludovico, a patron of Goldoni, ii. 124.
Zanche, Daniele, advocate, ii. 161.
Zanerini, Petronio, the best actor of Italy, ii. 323.
Zanoni, Atanagio, comedian, i. 112 _note_ 1; ii. 131, 323.
Zannuzzi, Francesco, of the Comédie Italienne at Paris, ii. 211,
212 _note_ 1.
Zeno, Apostolo, encourages Gozzi in his poetical attempts, i. 207.
his influence in the drama, i. 207 _note_ 1.
Zini, Francesco, a cloth merchant, wishes to buy the Gozzis' house, i. 299.
Carlo Gozzi tries to prevent the purchase, i. 300.
Zon, Signer, Secretary to the Inquisitors of State, ii. 303 _note_ 1.
Zucchi, Padre, an _improvisatore_, i. 203.
* * * * *
The following typographical errors have been corrected by the etext
transcriber:
Many years have elasped since Tartaglia married=>Many years have elapsed
since Tartaglia married
twirls his moustachioes=>twirls his moustachios
Philarete Chasles=>Philarète Chasles
whence we were to sally forth to the assault of Buda.=>whence we were to
sally forth to the assault of Budua.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Under date August 31, 1885, with the assumed signature of E. H.
Westbourne. See _Academy_, No. 696, Sept. 5, 1885.
[2] See Romanin, _Storia Documentata di Venezia_, vol. viii. ch. 7.
[3] Gratarol was not formally divorced from his wife. This appears from
several passages of his _Narrazione Apologetica_. It may, however, be
here observed that scandalous irregularities with regard to matrimony
formed one of the main signs of Venetian decadence. Between 1782 and
1796 the Council of Ten received no fewer than 264 petitions for
divorce, and the Patriarch is said to have had 900 applications at one
time before him, requiring his decision in matters relating to a
dissolution of the marriage tie. See Magrini, _op. cit._, p. 23; and
Macchi, _Storia del Concilio dei Dieci_, vol. ii. p. 355. It seems that
the most shameless reasons were collusively alleged by the parties in
these cases for breaking a tie which the Church regarded as
indissoluble. In 1782 the Ten passed a law requiring a divorced woman to
enter a convent.
[4] A short while before, he had been appointed Resident at Turin, and
had received the usual equipment for that service. Circumstances
independent of his own will in the matter prevented him from assuming
the office. His political ill-wishers were able to point to the unused
grant which he had pocketed.
[5] Caterina was the daughter of the ancient and noble, but impoverished
house of Dolfin. She contracted her first marriage with a member of the
Tiepolo family, obtained a divorce from him, and married her lover,
Andrea Tron.
[6] It may be read in Gratarol's _Narrazione Apologetica_, vol. ii. p.
78, &c.
[7] These magistrates acted for the Fisco or Treasury of the Republic.
[8] It has been suggested that Gratarol so heavily mortgaged his lands
before leaving Venice that they were not worth more than this sum, after
allowing for rent charges on them and _fidei commissa_. See the
observations of a self-styled impartial writer printed at the end of the
_Narrazione Apologetica_, ed. 1797. I must, however, observe that this
writer is by no means impartial. The essay in question is a piece of
skilful special pleading in defence of Mme. Tron, her husband, the
oligarchs of Venice, and the officers who executed the _bando_ against
Gratarol.
[9] Gratarol pays high tribute to Gozzi's genius. But he sticks to the
conviction that the _Droghe d'Amore_ was meant to turn him into
ridicule, and that its author could, if he had chosen, have withdrawn it
from the stage.
[10] He tells us that he began the Memoirs on April 30, 1780. _Memorie_,
vol. i. p. 3. The passage occurs in Gozzi's manifesto, of which more
anon. I may add that the manifesto is not included in all copies of the
Memoirs.
[11] An anonymous answer, entitled _Riflessioni d'un Imparziale_,
appeared at Lugano. This was ascribed to Carlo Gozzi's pen; but he
repudiated the pamphlet, and it does not bear the mark of his style. It
may be found at the end of vol. ii. of Gratarol's _Narr. Apol._, ed.
1797, Venice, Silvestro Gatti.
[12] _Memorie_, vol i. pp. 3-15.
[13] This is evident from the appearance of the _Ragionamento del
Cittadino Carlo Gozzi a' Cittadini amici della Memoria di P. A.
Gratarol_ at the beginning of the _Memorie_, vol. ii.
[14] _Memorie Ultime_, p. 39; Gozzi's _Memorie_, vol. ii. p. x.
[15] The family of Widiman or Widman was of patrician rank in Venice.
[16] Vol. i. p. 4.
[17] Vol. ii. p. xvi.
[18] De Musset, in order to support his view of Gozzi as the precursor
of Romanticism and of Hoffmann, strains to the utmost the chapter on
_Contrattempi_ in the Memoirs. He furthermore professes to have
extracted a very bizarre account of the reasons why Gozzi abandoned his
_Fiabe_--in plain words, because the elves and spirits he brought upon
the stage were resolved to be revenged on him--from a letter addressed
to Gasparo by Carlo Gozzi (_Mémoires de Charles Gozzi_, pp. 184-188). De
Musset adds no reference to the source of this alleged letter, which is
mentioned by neither Magrini nor Masi. Indeed, Signor Ernesto Masi
informs me that he knows nothing about it. I too have failed to discover
it. In his Memoirs, and in the prefaces to several plays, Gozzi gives a
very different account of the reasons why he stopped producing _Fiabe_.
I am loth to draw the conclusion that the letter in question was a
deliberate forgery of Paul de Musset's. Further researches may bring it
still to light, but at present it has to be regarded with the greatest
possible suspicion.
[19] I have treated the subject of the Italian drama elsewhere:
_Renaissance in Italy_, vol. v. ch. 11.
[20] The full title would be _Commedia dell' Arte all' Improviso_. It is
also called _Commedia a soggetto_, _Commedia non scritta_, _Commedia
improvisa._ The written comedy, beside _Commedia Erudita_, was also
called _Commedia sostenuta, scritta_, or _letteraria_.
[21] See what I have said at length upon this point in my _Shakespeare's
Predecessors_, p. 259, and _Renaissance in Italy_, vol. v. p. 188.
[22] To Maurice Sand, in his _Masques et Bouffons_, vol. ii. p. 77 _et
seq._, is due the merit of having resuscitated the fame of this great
local dramatist, yet I think M. Sand exaggerates Beolco's influence in
the creation of impromptu comedy.
[23] See Collier's _English Dramatic Poetry_ (ed. 1879), vol. iii. p.
197.
[24] It is impossible to avoid the awkwardness of using the word _mask_
in a double sense,--both to indicate the fixed character assumed by a
certain species of actor, and also the vizard which concealed his
features.
[25] It may here be mentioned that in English we still retain the names
of some of these masks, as Zany, Harlequin, Pantaloon, and Punch. Our
Columbine is the Neapolitan form of the _Servetta_ or soubrette. Our
Scaramouch is one of the numerous forms of the Captain, which obtained
great popularity at Paris. Whether the Clown of our pantomimes has to be
classed with the _Villano_, or rather with one of the Zanni, I am
uncertain. His traditional connection with the part of Pantaloon seems
to indicate the latter alternative.
[26] In a comedy by Virgilio Verucci (_Li Diversi Linguaggi_, Venezia,
1609), French, Venetian, Bergamasque, Roman, Sicilian, Bolognese,
Neapolitan, Matriccian, Perugian, and Florentine dialects were spoken.
See Bartoli, _op. cit._, p. lxxix.
[27] Conversely, masks were sometimes created out of persons. Thus the
plebeian poet of Naples, Francesco Cerlone, moulded the mask of Don
Fastidio upon a barber of his acquaintance, Francesco Massaro. Here the
man became a type; and after he had made it famous, it was continued by
other players, who adapted themselves to his humours. (See Scherillo's
_Commedia dell' Arte_, chap, iii., for the history of Don Fastidio).
This mask was very popular for a time in Southern Italy. When Casanova
wanted to engage a troop at Otranto for performance at Corfu, he had to
choose between the rival companies of Neapolitan Don Fastidio and
Sicilian Battipaglia (_Mémoires_, vol. i. ch. xv.). The Capocomici, as I
have previously mentioned, were known by the names of their masks.
[28] _Fescenninus_ is variously derived from the town Fescennia in South
Etruria, or from _fascinum_, the Latin form of _phallus_.
[29] The common meaning of _satura_ and _farsa_, both of which have
reference to stuffing, is somewhat singular.
[30] I have seen them doing this with reticence and decorum at
Montepulciano.
[31] A curious passage in the Life of Don Pietro di Toledo (_Arch.
Stor._, vol. ix. p. 23) shows what a startling impression these
Dionysiac revels made upon a Spanish Viceroy in the early seventeenth
century. Pontano's Latin poems are full of matter bearing on the
vitality of antique rustic habits in the neighbourhood of Naples.
[32] It was included in the first edition of the _Canti
Carnascialeschi_, 1559, and is reprinted in Verzone's edition of
Grazzini's _Rime Burlesche_, Firenze, Sansone, 1882.
[33] "Acting the Bergamasque and the Venetian, we roam the whole world
over, and the recitation of comedies is our trade.... We are all of us
Zanni, excellent and perfect players; the other choice actors of our
troupe, lovers, ladies, hermits, and soldiers, have stayed behind to
guard our booth.... We have a stock of new comedies, so fine, so
mirthful, and so witty, that when you hear them you will die of
laughing. Afterwards you will see a dance upon our stage, all full of
new and varied sports.... But since there is a certain custom in this
country, ladies, which prevents your coming to our public show, if you
will open your house-doors to us, we will let you taste in part the
sweetness and the pleasure of our sports."
[34] The other channels were French plays, modifications of English
plays, adaptations of Spanish plays, and musical melodramas.
[35] I do not vouch for this etymology, which Boerio, the compiler of
the Venetian Glossary, has adopted. For myself, I should be well
contented with the derivation from San Pantaleone, and would willingly
make him the patron saint of pantaloons and professed trousers-makers.
[36] It is singular that Shakespeare, who uses Pantalone as the symbol
of old age in _As You Like It_, knew him already in decrepitude.
[37] It was my good fortune, while writing these pages at Davos in the
summer of 1888, to become acquainted with two brothers from Bergamo, who
were living representatives of the Zanni. They had come to help at the
hay-harvest, leaving their own farm in the Bergamasque hills.
Brighella's wit and knavery amused me. I marvelled at Arlecchino's
simplicity and suppleness.
[38] Carlo Gozzi at Zara in his youth created a new type of the
Servetta, adapted to Dalmatian circumstances, under the name of Luce.
[39] Scherillo, in his _Commedia dell' Arte_, has resuscitated Cerlone's
fame, as Maurice Sand made us acquainted with Beolco.
[40] See above, p. 38.
[41] For a short notice of these curious Maccaronic poems, _I Cantici di
Fidentio Glottogrysio Ludimagistro_, see my _Renaissance in Italy_, vol.
v. p. 328. The obscurity of their jargon veiled considerable indecency.
It is noticeable that this book, now exceedingly rare, should have
become the text-book of the Pedante. But see Bartoli, _op. cit._, pp.
lii., lvii.
[42] Burattino is so kaleidoscopic that at last he becomes the
patronymic hero of marionettes in Italy. _I Burattini_ are the acting
dolls.
[43] In the _Ragionamento Ingenuo_ and _Appendice_, Op., 1772, vols i.
and iv.
[44] _Scenari Inediti_, Firenze, Sansoni, 1880.
[45] It has to be mentioned that in plays of a more serious description,
the parts of character were frequently written out, and only the parts
of the masks left to improvisation. This was the method pursued by Gozzi
in his _Fiabe_.
[46] Andrea Perrucci, _Dell' Arte Rappresentativa premeditata ed all'
improvviso_, Napoli, 1699, quoted by Bartoli, _op. cit._, p. lxxi.
[47] _Histoire Anecdotique du Théâtre Italien_, Paris, 1769, quoted by
Bartoli, _op. cit._, p. lxxvi.
[48] _Le Théâtre Italien_, quoted by Bartoli, _op. cit._, p. lxx.
[49] These phrases are used by Gozzi in his _Memorie Inutili_. Compare
what he says in his _Appendice al Ragionamento Ingenuo_, Op., 1772, vol.
iv. p. 40.
[50] Quoted by Bartoli, _op. cit._, p. lxxi.
[51] I am indebted to Maurice Sand, _Masques et Bouffons_.
[52] Vol. iii. p. 201.
[53] _Ragionamento Ingenuo_, Op., 1772, vol. i.
[54] Scherillo, in his book on _La Commedia dell' Arte_, ch. vi., has
given the history of San Carlo's efforts to suppress the theatre at
Milan.
[55] Nicolò Maria Tiepolo, about 1778, quoted by Molmenti in his Essay
on Goldoni, Venezia, Ongania, 1880, p. 68.
[56] Pasquali's edition, 1761; also, _Teatro Comico_, act i. sc. 2.
[57] _Mémoires de Jacques Casanova_, Bruxelles, Rozez, vol. i. ch. II.
[58] _Mémoires de M. Goldoni_, Paris, Veuve Duchesne, 1787, vol. i.
ch. 5.
[59] A common inn-sign. This reminds us of the earliest performances of
plays in the yards of London hostelries.
[60] Ed. cit., vol i. p. 228.
[61] See his Mémoires, part i. ch. 40.
[62] This is perhaps the proper place to explain the meaning of
Martellian verses. They owe their name to Pier Jacopo Martelli
(1665-1725), who revived them, and used them for the drama. Metrically
speaking, Martellian verses are twelve-syllable lines of the Alexandrine
type. These long lines had been commonly employed in Italy during the
thirteenth century, before the heroic verse of eleven syllables obtained
ascendancy. It is difficult to say why the Alexandrine, which Italy in
the thirteenth century shared with France, died out in the former
country and became the standard heroic line of the latter. Possibly the
reason may be found in the Italian tendency toward double rhymes; the
so-called _versi piani_ of Dante being decasyllabic iambics with a
redundant syllable rather than hendecasyllabics. Anyhow, the Alexandrine
has not flourished south of the Alps. Martelli's revival did not
prosper; and Carducci, in his _Su' Campi di Marengo_ (_Nuove Poesie_, p.
91), is the only recent poet who has attempted them with success.
[63] Opere, ed. 1772, tom. viii. p. 27. "The partisans on both sides
gathered forces daily. One swears by _Original_ (a name for Goldoni),
the other by _Plunder_ (Chiari, because of his plagiarisms). The whole
city was turned upside down, and indeed it is no laughing matter.
Brothers fought with brothers, wives did worse with their husbands.
Everywhere the wrangling was fierce; nought but confusion, nought but
discord."
[64] The details of the controversy between Gozzi and Goldoni are given
at fuller length than I have attempted in Signor Ernesto Masi's masterly
Introduction to his edition of the _Fiabe Teatrali_.
[65] Opere, vol. viii. _Tartana_ is a large merchant vessel.
[66] The editor of this Venetian Zadkiel was originally Giovanni
Pozzobon. After his death it was continued by Giambattista Bada.
Pozzobon was nicknamed Schieson. The almanac was adorned with a
ridiculous portrait of a doctor in a huge wig. Owing to this fact,
Schieson came to signify any one with rumpled hair. See Boerio's
_Dizionario del Dialetto Veneziano_.
[67] Opere, vol. viii. p. 164.
[68] The original exists in MS. at the Marcian Library. Goldoni wrote
the poem on the occasion of S. E. Bastian Venier's return from the
rectorship of Bergamo. When he reprinted it in the edition of his
poetical works (Pasquali, Venezia, 1764), he omitted the passage
referring to Gozzi's _Tartana_. The lines above are given in Magrini's
and Masi's essays. I add a translation. "I have seen a certain _Tartana_
in print, full of rancid and insipid verses, verses bad enough to
terrify a goblin, verses seasoned by the wise plagiary with acrid salt
of evil-speaking, full of false arrogant sentiments. One can, however,
condone this licence in one who is out of temper with Fortune, she being
not greatly well-affected toward him. He who speaks evil without any
reason shown, he who does not prove his assumptions and his arguments,
acts like the dog who barks against the moon."
[69] It was written for the marriage of Contarini Venier. "A Lombard who
pretends to be a Delia Cruscan, with a smile on his lips and venom in
his heart."
[70] "Only too well I know that I am not a good writer, and that I never
drank at the best fountains. I write and reason as my style dictates,
and sometimes by good chance I also have afforded pleasure. But woe to
me if the Florentine sieve should be applied to sifting my productions."
[71] Opere, vol. viii. p. 183. "I am engaged in preparing a commentary
which shall prove both the assumption and the argument."
[72] _Il Teatro Comico_ was the first of the famous sixteen comedies of
1749-50. The list of the pieces to be expected was announced in it. See
Goldoni's _Memoirs_, part i. ch. 7.
[73] "Yes, thou art the eagle, I am the ant. Thou soarest to the zenith
without exertion; my Muse cannot rise to the poles of the universe."
[74] Only in this respect, however; otherwise, as artist, Gozzi differs
widely from Aristophanes.
[75] Opere, vol. iii. p. 9.
[76] The actors in Sacchi's company were: Antonio Sacchi, _Truffaldino_;
Atanagio Zanoni, _Brighella_; Agostino Fiorelli, _Tartaglia_; Cesare
Darbes, _Pantalone_; Adriana Sacchi Zanoni, _Smeraldina_; Antonia
Sacchi, _Beatrice_; together with Ignazio Casanova and Gaetano Casali.
How the parts of Leandro, Clarice, Rè di Coppe, Celio, Morgana, Creonta,
Ninetta were distributed, we do not know. Antonia Sacchi (the _Beatrice_
of the troupe) probably played Clarice.
[77] In Italian, _Rè di Coppe_. The Italian suits are _Coppe_ or cups,
_Danari_ or coins, _Spade_ or swords (whence our Spades), _Bastoni_ or
clubs.
[78] In Italian, _Cavaliere di Coppe_.
[79] I have adopted the old English fourteen-syllable line for the
translation of Gozzi's Martellian verses. It seemed to me that the
lumbering effect of this metre lent itself to the spirit of his parody.
What Martellian verses were has been explained at p. 97.
[80] I cannot pretend to give a literal translation of these gross
parodies of Goldoni's forensic verbiage. The most I can do is to stuff
the verse with more or less of legal phraseology.
[81] See above, p. 112, for the names of the five actors who sustained
these parts in Sacchi's company.
[82] I wrote this in the spring of 1888, before I was aware that Wagner
had set the _Donna Serpente_ to music. His early piece, _The Fairies_,
was composed in 1833, and first performed this year in June at Munich.
[83] Act ii. sc. 5. In Masi's edition, vol. ii. p. 458. Readers who care
for further diatribes _à la Gozzi_ on these topics, may be referred to
the _Astrazione_ which serves as introduction to his translation of
Boileau, Op., vol. vii. p. 53.
[84]
"Many are now alive,
Who haply are more statues than I am.
Thou shalt experience what power hath a statue,
And how a live man may become an image."
[85] _Tarocchi_ is the name for the cards, seventy-eight in number, used
in a now well-nigh forgotten game. Fifty-six cards of the whole series
consist of the four Italian suits: Coppe, Spade, Bastoni, and Danari.
The remaining twenty-two are properly called _Tarocchi_, and in the game
of Taroc take precedence of any cards of the four ordinary suits.
[86]
"I too have charms,
Sweet flatteries, dulcet wiles; and to my side
He shall be faithful ever. Yet I would not
That, loving him, my kindness should arouse
In hearts of others jealousy."
[87]
"Fair, yea, most fair thou art in sooth; yet still more fair wouldst be
Didst thou an apple hold which sings, plucked from the magic tree.
* * * * *
Daughter, I trow that thou art fair; yet still more fair wouldst be
Didst thou that water hold which plays and dances merrily."
[88]
"So! this is my philosopher, who went Yesterday picking sticks, and now!
... But patience!... I wished to stay with her, for I adore her; And
stay with her I shall. We must contrive To hold our tongue; and yet this
may not be. I vow I scarcely knew her! What grand airs! Some devil must
have daubed her o'er with gold. 'Twould vex me sorely if the little
hussy ... Some rich milord perhaps.... Well, I'll know all."
{_Exit._
[89] There are five of these old statues, painted, in Moorish costumes.
One of them has the name Rioba carved above his head. Everybody in
Venice, of course, knew them; and their appearance on the stage must
have been mirth-promoting.
[90] _Mémoires_, part ii. cap. 45.
[91] Letters from Italy, dated October 4, October 6, and October 10,
1786.
[92] See Masi's Essay, p. cxxxii.
[93] _Carlo Gozzi, Théâtre Fiabesque, Alphonse Royer._ Paris, Michel
Lévy, 1865.
[94] London, W. Satchell & Co. 1880.
[95] Through the courtesy of Mr. John P. Anderson of the British Museum
I am able to state that, besides a short article in the _Encyclopædia
Britannica_, he can only discover an essay in _Lippincott's Magazine_
(vol. xx. p. 347, &c.), entitled "A Venetian of the Eighteenth Century,"
which deals with Carlo Gozzi.
[96] The Gozzi family were thus _Cittadini Originari_ of Venice. These
_Cittadini_ had to prove legitimate birth in the city; three generations
during which the family had exercised no mechanical arts; freedom from
any criminal stain, debts to the state, or factious behaviour.
Citizenship, as in the case of the Gozzi, was also granted by privilege.
The _Cittadini_ formed a class of burgher aristocracy, ranking below the
patricians and taking no part in the actual government of the State,
since they did not vote in the Consiglio Grande. Their names, pedigrees,
and arms were enrolled in a book, of which many copies exist, and which
was commonly called the _Libro d'Argento_, to distinguish it from the
_Libro d'Oro_ of the patricians. In a MS. of the seventeenth century,
which belonged to Cicogna, now at the Museo Civico, entitled _Le Due
Corone della Nobiltà Veneziana, Corona Seconda_, the Gozzi arms are
blazoned thus: "Or, on the topmost branches of an olive-tree vert a dove
ppr., and round the stem of the tree a scroll argent inscribed Signum
Pacis." The family is described as wealthy; but no pedigree is given:
_Non vi è albero_. Carlo Gozzi, in his _Lettera Confutatoria, Memorie_,
vol. iii. p. 31, asserts that the privilege of citizenship was given to
his ancestors by the Doge Cicogna (1585-95). It is neither impossible
nor improbable that the Gozzi of Bergamo were derived from the same
stock as the Gozze or Gozzi of Ragusa. These latter drew their pedigree
from Herzegovina, and were therefore Slavs. We know that the patrician
families of Polo and Sagredo came originally from Sebenico.
[97] Their palace is still inhabited by a Conte Gozzi. The _arca_, or
family sepulture, can no longer be traced in the church. It was at the
foot of the altar in the Chapel of the Madonna. Here Carlo Gozzi was
buried.
[98] In a voluminous MS. written by Cicogna, embodying all he could
collect about the _Famiglie Cittadine_ (now at the Museo Civico), we
find that _Alberto Gozi detto delle Sede_ was inscribed among the
patricians in 1646. I may mention that Cicogna tricks the arms of Gozzi
without the dove.
[99] The Grand Chancellor, the Ducal Notaries, and the Secretaries of
many Magistracies, were chosen from the _Cittadini_, who were also sent,
after holding such posts, as ambassadors of the second class, or
Residents, to foreign Courts.
[100] The word, which I have translated acre, is _campo_. Now the
_campo_ differed in different provinces of Lombardy. But the _Campo
Padovano_ corresponded pretty nearly to an English acre; and from
another passage in Gozzi (_Memorie_, vol. iii. p. 226) it appears that
he was in the habit of using the Paduan standard.
[101] The Gozzi were what are called in Venice _Conti di Terra Ferma_,
and their title seems to have been dependent upon these feudal tenures.
[102] At the time when Gozzi wrote, this was the eldest branch, called
Di San Fantin. Two remote branches, of S. Apollinare and San Polo,
survived. They descended from a collateral ancestor, Girolamo Tiepolo,
who died in 1516. The branch of S. Polo expired in 1820. See Litta,
_Famiglie Celebri_. The Tiepolo family was one of the oldest and most
illustrious among the patrician houses. It ranked with the _Case
vecchie_, as distinguished from the _Case nuove_. These _Case vecchie_
were also called tribunizie, from having exercised the highest offices
of State at the time when Venice was still governed by tribunes, and
before the foundation of the Dogeship. Of these oldest and purest noble
houses there were twenty-four. The closing of the Grand Council in 1297,
which determined the oligarchical character of the Venetian government,
led to an attempted revolution in the State by Baiamonte Tiepolo.
Tiepolo's conspiracy was really an effort in the interests of the old
aristocracy to throw off the yoke which _novi homines_ were fixing on
the commonwealth. An excellent essay on Baiamonte Tiepolo will be found
in H. F. Brown's _Venetian Studies_. I may add to this note that the
Gozzi had previously intermarried with the Corner, Zuccato, Donà, and
Morosini, patrician houses of high respectability.
[103] Carlo Gozzi was born December 13, 1720. He probably knew that he
was in his sixtieth year; and this passage enables us to measure the
exact amount of duplicity which he thought venial in composing his
Memoirs. It was Gozzi's object to extenuate the fact that his _liaison_
with Teodora Ricci had been carried on when he was past the age of
fifty. When he asserts that he had "not yet reached the age of sixty,"
he was just within the bounds of veracity; for he wanted more than seven
months to complete his sixtieth year.
[104] _Collegi._ Gasparo was educated in the Somaschan establishment at
S. Cipriano on the island of Murano.
[105] Casanova, in the first chapter of his Memoirs, says that he
suffered during his boyhood from the same violent hæmorrhages.
[106] _Gozzi_ might have cited Galileo, whose style, formed by the study
of the "divine" Ariosto, is a model of exquisite and urbane Italian
diction.
[107] Compare what Goldoni says about the marionette theatre at his
grandfather's country-seat. In some of the great villas of the Venetian
nobility these private stages were built on an enormous scale. The
account of Marco Contarini's theatre at Piazzola near Padua, and of the
sumptuous dramatic performances which took place there, reads like a
passage from the _Arabian Nights_. See Romanin's _Storia di Venezia_,
vol. vii. p. 550.
[108] I may here say that the title of cavaliere, or knight, was
commonly given to members of patrician families at Venice, irrespective
of their being laymen or in orders.
[109] Gaspara Stampa was born at Padua, but was a gentlewoman of Milan
by descent. She died about 1554, at the age of thirty. If this edition
of Gaspara Stampa's _Rime_ is the one prepared for publication by Luisa
Bergalli (Gozzi's sister-in-law), there is the same confusion of dates
here as I have noticed above. It was published when Gozzi had reached
his seventeenth year.
[110] A tablet over the entrance to the restaurant at the Calcina on the
Zattere, records that Apostolo Zeno dwelt there. It was, perhaps, to
this house that young Gozzi paid his visit. Zeno (b. 1668, d. 1750)
exercised considerable influence over the Italian drama. He wrote plays
for music and oratorios. For some years he held the post of Cesarean
poet at Vienna, which he resigned to the more celebrated Metastasio.
[111] Luisa Pisana Bergalli was born at Venice in 1703, of humble
parentage, being descended from a Piedmontese shoemaker. Luigi Mocenigo
and Pisana Cornaro held her at the font, and gave her their two
Christian names. She showed distinguished talents in early youth, and
was educated by the painter Rosalba Carriera, afterwards by Caterino and
Apostolo Zeno. At twenty-three she published a tragedy and an anthology
of Italian poems by female writers; at twenty-five another tragedy; at
thirty a translation of Terence, and a comedy dedicated to Count Jacopo
Antonio Gozzi. It appears from this dedication to _Le avventure del
poeta_ that she was the protegée of both Count Gozzi and his wife, and
on the best of terms with their children. She was thirty-five and
Gasparo was twenty-five when they married. See Tommasei, _Storia Civile
nella Letteraria_, pp. 185-188.
[112] The title _Provveditore Generale di Mare_ was given to the supreme
head of the Venetian naval and military forces in the Levant. He resided
at Corfu, where he maintained a princely court, and ruled like a
sovereign, being only responsible for his actions to the Senate. Next in
importance to this functionary was the _Provveditore Generale di
Dalmazia_, of whose Court we shall hear much in Gozzi's Memoirs.
Casanova, who went to Corfu in the train of the Prov. Gen. Dolfino,
called Il Bucentoro because of his grand manner, and the father of the
famous Caterina Dolfin Tron, gives an excellent account of the Court
there, its military, naval, and civil establishment. Chapters xiii.-xvi.
of the first volume of his Memoirs deserve to be compared with the
corresponding part of Gozzi's.
[113] Not at seventeen, but at twenty. Gozzi was born in 1720, and
Quirini took the government of Dalmatia in 1740.
[114] _Togato._ The State dignitaries of Venice wore robes of various
colours and forms, according to their office. A simple nobleman was
bound to go abroad in a flowing robe of silk, or toga, ample enough to
conceal whatever costume he may have worn beneath it.
[115] _Armata_, composed of naval and military forces, to act equally on
sea and shore.
[116] It seems from the names of these larger galleys that they were the
official ships of the Provveditore, his own flag-ship and her attendant
convoy. Romanin (vol. viii. p. 372) says that at this epoch Venice kept
fifteen heavy galleys, ten lighter, nine sailing ships of the frigate
build, and twenty-four armed craft of other descriptions. The galleys
and sailing ships were commanded only by patricians. This was her peace
establishment.
[117] Gozzi says _adjutante_ alone. _Adjutante di campo_ is
aide-de-camp.
[118] This word is in the Italian _armata_. The _armata_, to which Gozzi
belonged, was properly an armament of mixed naval and military forces,
and _armata_ would naturally be translated "navy." He was attached to
it, however, in the quality of soldier, and was eligible (as we shall
afterwards see) for transfer into the land forces of the State in
Lombardy. Thus he belonged to the Venetian army.
[119] This was the highest office in the State to which a _cittadino_
could aspire. It conferred the rank of cavaliere. The Grand Chancellor
could open public despatches; he attended the sittings of the Grand
Council and the Senate, but without a vote, and was the official chief
of all the civil servants.
[120] Probably Freschot, the author of several works on Venice, a
Frenchman by birth.
[121] The native Dalmatians of Slav origin, inhabiting the inland
villages and country districts, were called by this name.
[122] _Scogli._ A long low island opposite the harbour of Zara is so
called.
[123] This and other French terms show to what extent the military
system of Venice had been modernised.
[124] Razionato.
[125] This chapter will be read with interest by students of the
_Commedia dell' Arte_. It throws light upon the way in which an actor of
originality could adapt one of the fixed characters of that comedy, in
this case the _servetta_, to his own talents and to local circumstances.
[126] _Pallone_ is a game played with a large leather ball, filled with
air, and something like our football. In Italy it is struck with the
hand, which is armed for the purpose with gloves or a flat short bat
fixed on the palm. Sides are chosen, and the game roughly resembles
tennis on a large scale. Pallone is the original of our balloon.
[127] The sequin at this time was worth twenty-two _lire Venete_. The
worth of the _lira_ was about half a franc, says Romanin (vol. viii. p.
302). Romanin in the same place fixes the ducat at eight _lire_. Gozzi's
debt amounted to 1248 _lire_. This would make only 156 ducats at the
above rate. But the relation of the ducat to the sequin and the _lira_
is very obscure, and seems to have varied according to the kind of
ducat.
[128] _Decime._ Taxes annually raised upon the whole property of a
Venetian.
[129] Opere, vol. vii. p. 393. This is the stanza--
Gli antichi di provincia tuoi fedeli
Son quasi tutti fuggiti alle ville,
In castellacci discoperti a' cieli,
Con figli e figlie e nipoti e pupille,
Ripieni di pensieri acri e crudeli,
Allor che suonan mezzodì le squille.
Educazion non han, mangiar, nè bere;
Pensa se daran nerbo alle tue schiere!
This is said to the burlesque Carlo Magno of the poem. The passage in
the text confirms the theory that Gozzi intended his Carlo Magno to
represent the decrepit majesty of Venice.
[130] Almorò is the Venetian form of the name Ermolao.
[131] Gozzi's description of the Venetian _Cortesan_ may serve as
illustration to a popular play of Goldoni's, _Momolo Cortesan_. This was
the first comedy of character Goldoni composed. Its title-rôle was
written for a celebrated Pantalone, Golinetti (see Goldoni's _Memoirs_,
part i. ch. 40). When he printed it, he translated the title into
_L'Uomo di Mondo_, finding no exact equivalent for the Venetian phrase
_Cortesan_. Goldoni's account of the character tallies with Gozzi's.
[132] In these and several passages which follow, Gozzi ascribes the
pecuniary embarrassments of his family to the maladministration of his
mother, aided by his sister-in-law. It it only fair to say, that Gasparo
Gozzi's correspondence confirms his veracity. That favourite and
favoured eldest son complains bitterly that, even to the last days of
her life, his mother insisted on managing the property, and that she
made underhand contracts to the prejudice of himself and his children.
It was, in fact, a misfortune for the Gozzi that their father, Jacopo
Antonio, married into a patrician family of higher rank and pretensions
than his own. Angela Tiepolo, knowing herself to be one of the last
representatives of a very noble house, with considerable expectations
from her childless brother, drove her easy-going husband into ruinous
expenditure, and domineered over her kindred by right of a marriage
which savoured of a mésalliance. See the article upon her in Litta's
_Famiglie Celebri_, sub tit. "Tiepolo."
[133] The _bautta_ and the mask were permitted at Venice from the first
Sunday in October until Ash Wednesday.
[134] This was a very long scarf of black silk, which, draped above the
head, and fulling over the shoulders, was tied in a knot, and allowed to
hang on both sides of the wearer's skirts. The mask or _bautta_ was only
permitted during the prolonged Venetian Carnival.
[135] The Italian is _democraziano_. Perhaps Gozzi wrote _democriziano_,
from Democritus, the sage who laughed at all things. In either case the
adjective is wrongly formed. It ought to be either _democratico_ or
_democritico_. But _democrazia_ may have led him to _democraziano_. He
not infrequently employs this phrase, which always puzzles me, because
nobody was really less democratic than Carlo Gozzi, and as yet, in 1780,
he had no reason, under the pressure of the Revolution, to dissemble.
[136] The theatres of Venice were called by the names of the parishes in
which they stood, or of non-parochial churches to which they were
contiguous. S. Angelo was one of the smaller.
[137] I have condensed in this sentence the details of a long and
tiresome chapter (chap. xxix.). It is worth adding here that the law of
Venice with regard to entail was very strict; time gave no title to a
purchaser who had obtained possession of an estate subject to _fidei
commissa_. One of Goethe's most interesting letters from Venice (October
5, 1786) contains the full description of a cause he heard pleaded in
the Ducal palace for the recovery of illegally alienated real property.
Goethe remarks upon the extraordinary permanence of trusts in Venice.
[138] The author of an unfinished work on Venetian literature.
[139] It seems probable that Gozzi was really at one time on the point
of marrying this lady.
[140] The Avvogadori del Comune, or _Advocatores Comunis_, corresponded
in a certain sense to the modern Procuratori di Stato, and had some
resemblance to the Roman tribunes. They formed a High Court of Justice
for the guardianship of property accruing to the Exchequer, for the
protection of private rights in property, rights of minors and widows,
the superintendence of registers of births and marriages, &c. Three
patricians formed the board.
[141] The Somascan Order was founded about 1540 by Girolamo Miani, a
Venetian senator, upon the model of the Theatines. Its object was
education, principally of the poor. With regard to the school at S.
Cipriano, it is worth mentioning that the famous adventurer, Casanova,
was placed there by his guardian the Abbé Grimani in the year 1740 or
thereabouts. He gives a full account of the institution in his Memoirs
(vol. i. ch. vi.), from which it appears that at this epoch about 150
youths were educated by the Somascan monks. Readers of Casanova need
hardly be reminded that he was expelled from the seminary after a few
weeks' residence. Gasparo Gozzi was also educated here.
[142] This scene has actually been preserved and printed in Gasparo
Gozzi's works. Opere, Minerva, Padova, vol. vii. It forms the 6th scene
of the 3rd act of _Esopo in Città_, and is very much as Carlo Gozzi
describes it. The ancient lady throws the principal blame for her
domestic sufferings upon a certain "Sicofante, Dottor legista di questa
città," whom I take to be Carlo's lawyer, Testa.
[143] Gozzi can hardly not have been thinking of poor Gratarol, when he
penned these lines. Mentally he contrasts his own conduct under the
inconvenience of a stage-satire with Gratarol's.
[144] See above, p. 319.
[145] On the Fondamenta Nuove, looking across Murano to the mountains of
the Dolomites. See Tommasei, _op. cit._, p. 258.
[146] This was written in 1780, but when it was printed in 1797, Louis
XVI. had little reason to be proud of his titles.
[147] He was made secretary to the Riformatori dello Studio.
[148] Gozzi here resumes a portion of the 29th chapter of his Memoirs,
which I have condensed in Chapter XXIV. above (see note to p. 336). It
seemed unnecessary to burden the translation of his autobiography with
more of legal details than was absolutely necessary for understanding
the tenor of his life-experience.