(Vol. ii., p. 146.; Vol. viii., p. 237.)
When I gave some account of _La Tina_ of Antonio Malatesti, and its
dedication to Milton, two years since, I was not aware that it had been
printed, as I had no other edition of Gamba's _Serie dell' Edizioni de'
Testi di Lingua_, than the first printed in 1812. That account was derived
from the original MS. which formerly passed through my hands. I fear that
my friend MR. BOLTON CORNEY will be disappointed if he should meet with a
copy of the printed book, for the MS. contained no other dedication than
the inscription on the title-page, of which I made a tracing. It represents
an inscribed stone tablet, in the following arrangement:
"LA
Tina Equiuoci Rusticali
di Antonio Malatesti c[=o]-
posti nella sua Villa di
Taiano il Settembre dell'
L'Anno, 1637.
Sonetti Ciquanta
Dedicati all' Ill^{mo} Signore
Et Padrone Oss^{mo} Il Signor'
Giouanni Milton Nobil'
Inghilese."
I copied at the time eight of these equivocal sonnets, and in my former
notice gave one as a specimen. They are certainly very ingenious, and may
be "graziosissimi" to an Italian ear and imagination; but I cannot think
that the pure mind of Milton would take much delight in obscene allusions,
however neatly wrapped up.
Milton seems to have dwelt with pleasure on his intercourse with these
witty, ingenious, and learned men, during his two-months' sojourn at
Florence; and it is remarkable that Nicolas Heinsius has spoken of the same
men, in much the same terms, in his dedication to Carlo Dati of the second
book of his _Italici Componimenti_:
"Sanctum mehercules habebo semper Jo. Bapt. Donij memoriam, non tam suo
nomine (et si hoc quoque) aut quod Frescobaldos, Cavalcantes, Gaddios,
Cultellinos, alios urbis vestrae viros precipuos mihi conciliarit,
quorum amicitiam feci hactenus, et faciam porro maximi, quam quod tibi
me conjunxerit, mi Date; cujus opera in notitiam, ac familiaritatem
plurimorum apud vos hominum eximiorum mox irreperem."
And, after mentioning others, he adds:
"Quid de Valerio Chimentellio, homine omni literatura perpolita, dicam?
Quid de Joanne Pricaeo? qui ingens civitati vestrae ornamentum ex ultima
nuper accessit Britannia."
One feels some decree of disappointment at not meeting here with the name
of Milton.
Of the distinguished men mentioned by Milton, some interesting notices
occur in that curious little volume, the _Bibliotheca Aprosiana_. Benedetto
Buommattei and Carlo Dati are well known from their important labours; and
of the others there are scattered notices in _Rilli Notizie degli Uomini
Illustre Fiorentine_, and in _Salvini Fasti Consolari dell' Accademia
Fiorentina_. I have an interesting little volume of Latin verses by Jacopo
Gaddi, with the following title _Poetica Jacobi Gaddii Corona e Selectis
Poematiis, Notis Allegoriis contexta_, Bononiae, 1637, 4to.
There is a good deal of ingenious and pleasing burlesque poetry extant by
Antonio Malatesti. I have before mentioned his _Sphinx_: of this I have a
dateless edition, apparently printed about the middle of the last century
at Florence: the title is _La Sfinge Enimmi del Signor Antonio Malatesti_.
Commendatory verses are prefixed by Chimentelli, Coltellini, and Galileo
Galilei. The last, from the celebrity of the writer, may deserve the small
space it will occupy in your pages. It is itself an enigma:
"DEL SIGNOR GALILEO GALILEI
SONETTO.
Mostro son' io piu strano, e piu difforme,
Che l'Arpia, la Sirena, o la Chimera;
Ne in terra, in aria, in acqua e alcuna fiera,
Ch' abbia di membra cosi varie forme.
Parte a parte non ho che sia conforme,
Piu che s' una sia bianca, e l' altra nera;
Spesso di Cacciator dietro ho una schiera,
Che de' miei pie van ritracciando l' orme.
Nelle tenebre oscure e il mio soggiorno;
Che se dall' ombre al chiaro lume passo,
Tosto l' alma da me sen fugge, come
Sen fugge il sogno all' apparir del giorno,
E le mie membra disunito lasso,
E l' esser perdo con la vita, e l nome."
{296}
Three more sonnets by this illustrious man are printed by Salvini in his
_Fasti_, of which he says:
"I quali esendo parto di si gran mente, mi concedera la gloria il
benigno lettore, che io, ad honore della Toscana Poesia, gli esponga il
primo alla publica luce."
Dr. Fellowes was not singular in confounding Dati and Deodati; it has been
done by Fenton and others: but that Dr. Symmons, in his _Life of Milton_
(p. 133.), should transform _La Tina_ into a _wine-press_, is ludicrously
amusing. _La Tina_ is the rustic mistress to whom the sonnets are supposed
to be addressed; and every one knows that _rusticale_ and _contadinesca_ is
that naive and pleasing rustic style in which the Florentine poets
delighted, from the expressive nature of the patois of the Tuscan
peasantry; and it might have been said of Malatesti's sonnets, as of
another rustic poet:
"Ipsa Venus laetos jam nunc migravit in agros
Verbaque Aratoris Rustica discit Amor."
I may just remark that the _Clementillo_ of Milton should not be rendered
_Clementini_, but _Chimentelli_. As Rolli tells us,--
"Clementillus fu quel Dottore _Valerio Chimentelli_ di cui leggesi una
vaghissima Cicalata nel sesto volume delle Prose Fiorentine."