CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WRITERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
The precepts of Crescimbeni bore good fruit, and both prose and poetry
gradually freed themselves from the faults of taste so obvious in the
preceding generation. Verse became lighter and more flowing, although
there was, unhappily, no diminution of conventional phraseology or
of mythological allusion. The comic poets were numerous and gifted.
But, on the other hand, there was less seriousness and perhaps less
originality. The influence of French Literature began to prevail, and
it has not been shaken off even to the present day. The tyranny of
governments was not quite so oppressive. Public opinion began to revolt
against the most flagrant abuses, and a succession of enlightened
sovereigns and statesmen carried into practice the enlightened
philanthropy of Voltaire and the sentimental philanthrophy of
Rousseau. Indeed, all over Europe, there was a desire, in the second
half of the Eighteenth Century, to promote the welfare of the people,
such as was never evinced in the age of Davila or of Filicaia. Louis
XVI and Turgot in France, Charles III and Aranda in Spain, Pombal in
Portugal, the Grand Duke Leopold in Tuscany, were all zealous in the
cause of humanity and enlightenment. It seemed even to acute observers
that a golden age was awaiting the human race. Unhappily, the horrors
and crimes of the French Revolution rudely dispelled these pleasing
visions and produced a reaction, the effects of which threw back the
progress of humanity for many generations. It is heart-breaking to
think how different the development of Europe might have been, had the
extreme section of the French Republicans been kept in subordination
and had Roland guided the destinies of France instead of Robespierre.
The conquests of Napoleon completed what the Reign of Terror had begun.
Old abuses were swept away, but only to make way for tyranny more
hopeless and relentless. The loss of life and treasure was enormous,
and the decline in the wealth of Italy became more conspicuous than
ever.
Authors fared somewhat badly during this century. Princes, probably
following the example of the frivolous Court of Louis XV, no longer
even pretended to encourage science and literature. We hear of no poet
receiving even the precarious and capricious patronage bestowed upon
Tasso and Ariosto. Metastasio was the only poet who basked in the
sunshine of Royal favour, and he owed his prosperity to the Court of
Vienna, and not to the Court of Sardinia, or of Naples. The patronage
of the great was withdrawn, and that of the public had hardly begun.
Thus writers, unless possessed of ample means, had bitter struggles
with poverty and obscurity. Some, like Muratori and Parini, entered the
Church and became monks or abbés. Others, like Baretti and Algarotti,
sought their fortune in foreign lands. The impudent piracy of books,
and the unauthorised performance of plays deprived even popular authors
of the reward of their labours. Goldoni, after spending many years in
producing comedies that deserved and obtained applause, was glad to
find an asylum in France as reader of Italian to the three daughters of
Louis XV.
The great merit of the Eighteenth Century, in Italy as elsewhere, was
its light-heartedness and humanity; the great defect, its materialism
and frivolity. Indeed, it would be hard to conceive a more enervating
atmosphere than surrounded many Italian poets, especially in the
earlier part of the Century; and unhappily, the numerous literary
Academies, instituted all over the Peninsula, instead of arresting
the evil, positively aggravated it, as they devoted their attention,
with few exceptions, to subjects and thoughts of the most trifling
description. This frivolity is not wholly absent even from the works of
Metastasio, one of the most delightful poets that Italy ever produced.